Oil Discovery in KHE-101 Triassic Aged Reservoir

Source: www.gulfoilandgas.com 5/12/2011, Location: Middle East

Gulfsands Petroleum plc, the oil and gas production, exploration and Development Company with activities in Syria, Iraq, Tunisia, Italy and the U.S.A., is pleased to provide this update on operations in Syria.

Operations have recently been completed on the Khurbet East 101 (KHE-101) appraisal well. The well has been suspended as a potential future oil production well following a drill-stem test (DST) that achieved a potentially commercial stabilized flow rate of 447 barrels of oil per day (bopd) of 34 deg API oil from the Triassic aged Butmah Formation reservoir.

KHE-101 commenced drilling operations on 19th January 2011 utilizing the Crosco E-501 rig. The well was planned to be drilled to a total depth of 3200 metres in order to provide information on reservoir continuity as well as volume and type of hydrocarbons within two specific targets, the Butmah and Kurrachine Dolomite Triassic aged reservoirs. These reservoirs had been found to be hydrocarbon bearing in the original Khurbet East field discovery well (KHE-1) in which the Kurrachine Dolomite reservoir flowed oil to surface on DST whilst the Butmah reservoir was found to be gas bearing. The KHE-101 well was drilled in a location that is structurally down dip and approximately 1.3 km south east of KHE-1 in order to evaluate the possibility of an oil column below the gas accumulation found within the Butmah Formation at KHE-1.

The well encountered the Triassic Butmah Formation at 2866 metres Measured Depth (m MD), 2456 metres True Vertical Depth sub-sea ("m TVD ss"), and encountered a gross vertical oil column of 69 metres with a net to gross ratio of approximately 35% and average porosity of 21% based on preliminary interpreted wireline logs. Pressure data obtained via wireline sampling from this oil column in the KHE-101 well bore indicates that the reservoir is in communication with the gas cap, indicating reservoir continuity between the two well locations.

An open-hole DST was performed over a 32 meter gross interval between 2866 and 2898m MD. A stable flow rate of 447 bopd of 34 deg API oil was recorded on a 48/64" choke over an 11 hour period with average water content of 0.3% by volume, an average gas-oil ratio of 1839 cubic feet per barrel, at an average flowing wellhead pressure of 185 pounds per square inch. Subsequent interpretation of down hole gauge pressure data suggests that the reservoir has suffered significant formation damage through the drilling and evaluation operations, and would be capable of a flow rate of over 1000 bopd were all of the damage to be removed via future acid stimulation of the reservoir interval.

Preliminary, probabilistic in-house analysis suggests that the Khurbet East Triassic Butmah reservoir contains a Mean gross recoverable oil resource in the order of 15 million stock tank barrels (MMstb). The well has been suspended as a potential future producer and Government approval will now be sought to develop this reservoir within the Khurbet East field area.

Following completion of testing operations on the Butmah reservoir, the well was drilled ahead to the Kurrachine Dolomite, which was encountered at 3138m MD (2728m TVD ss). Upon drilling ahead, strong oil shows were detected and coring operations were undertaken from 3138m to 3193m MD (2806m to 2783m TVD ss). Following coring operations, the well was drilled to a total depth of 3216m MD (2806m TVD ss). Based on wireline log interpretation, a net oil column of 6 metres was assessed for the Kurrachine Dolomite reservoir.

An open-hole DST was conducted over the interval 3138-3213m MD within the Kurrachine Dolomite reservoir, but only minor amounts of oil, gas and formation water were recovered. The lack of flow is believed to be due to relatively few natural fractures being present within the Kurrachine Dolomite reservoir section, compared to those found in this interval at the KHE-1 location.

The Crosco E-501 rig will now be moved to the Yousefieh 7 (Yous-7) well location on the northern flank of the Yousefieh field. This well is located approximately 400 metres north of the horizontal production well Yous-4H that is currently producing 1330 bopd and is the most prolific well on the field. The Yous-7 vertical well will provide information on reservoir extent and quality of the undrilled northern flank in anticipation that it will be tied-back for production.

Gulfsands drilling operations in Syria Block 26, using the Crosco E-401 and E-501 drilling rigs, are continuing as planned and have continued without interruption during recent months. Drilling operations on Abu Ghazal are ongoing and will be the subject of a future news release.

Block 26 Oil Production
Oil production and revenue receipts from the Khurbet East and Yousefieh fields continue without interruption. Both fields demonstrate continued strong performance with limited reservoir pressure loss and minimal production of formation water. Daily average oil production from Khurbet East during April 2011 was approximately 18,000 bopd, which is at or near the maximum possible based on current surface facility capacity. Daily average production at the Yousefieh Field during April 2011 was approximately 2,700 bopd.

We expect that combined production from these fields will be increased to approximately 24,000 bopd by the end of 2011 with the drilling and tie-in of additional development and delineation wells, and via minor upgrades and de-bottle necking of existing surface facilities.

Ric Malcolm, Gulfsands CEO, said, "We are pleased to encounter an oil column within the Butmah reservoir at Khurbet East. This reservoir appears to be of higher quality than the underlying Kurrachine Dolomite and the oil gravity is lighter than that currently produced from the overlying Massive Formation. The associated gas will aid in providing reservoir energy during production and may eventually be utilized for facility power requirements.

Production from the Khurbet East and Yousefieh fields continues to meet or exceed expectations, with total cumulative production since July 2008 of over 15 million barrels of oil."


United States >>  12/6/2024 - The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the availability of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Regional Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas...
Indonesia >>  12/3/2024 - - Drilling and testing of the PC-01 exploration well have concluded
- Testing of the Bekasap formation did not yield hydrocarbons
- The d...


Malaysia >>  12/2/2024 - INPEX CORPORATION (INPEX) announced that it has executed an agreement with Seascape Energy Asia plc (Seascape) to acquire 100 percent of the shares ...
Namibia >>  12/2/2024 - Sintana Energy Inc. (“Sintana” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following further update regarding the second campaign on blocks 2813A and ...

Norway >>  12/2/2024 - DNO and its partners have discovered oil in the “Othello” prospect in the southern North Sea.

The discovery was made in wildcat well 2/6-7 ...

Namibia >>  11/29/2024 - Galp (80%, operator), together with its partners NAMCOR and Custos (10% each), has successfully drilled, cored and logged the Mopane-1A appraisal well...

Related Categories: Camp Building  Cleaning Equipment, Services  Communication  Corrosion Products/Services  Development  Exploration  Food Supplies  General  Labor Services  Land & Leasing  Mine Clearance  Oil & Gas Companies  Production  Service Companies  Skilled Labors  Transportation, 4X4 Trucks  Unskilled Labors  Utility Systems  Waste Disposal  Water Supply Services  Welding Products/Services 

Related Articles: Camp Building  Cleaning Equipment, Services  Communication  Corrosion Products/Services  Development  Exploration  Food Supplies  General  Labor Services  Land & Leasing  Mine Clearance  Oil & Gas Companies  Production  Service Companies  Skilled Labors  Transportation, 4X4 Trucks  Utility Systems  Waste Disposal  Water Supply Services  Welding Products/Services 


Gulf Oil and Gas
Copyright © 2023 ICT All rights reserved. - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy.