Griffiths Energy International Inc announced it has commenced drilling operations in southern Chad, spudding the first development well in the Badila Field.
“The spudding of this development well follows a thorough testing program undertaken earlier this year,” said Gary Guidry, President and CEO of Griffiths Energy. “We look forward to announcing the results as and when is practicable.”
During 2013 Griffiths intends to simultaneously develop not only the Badila Field but also the nearby Mangara field. The Company will be drilling two new wells and recompleting Badila-1 before moving the drilling rig to the Mangara Field to commence development drilling there.
The Badila Field is approximately 17 kilometres from an export pipeline to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mangara field is approximately 120 kilometres from the same pipeline. Griffiths is currently building a pipeline connection from both fields to the export pipeline and expects to complete the tie-in early in 2013.
Both the Badila Field and the Mangara Field are located on Griffiths’ DOI / DOB block, which covers an area of approximately 2,744 square kilometers in the southwestern region of Chad. The newly-spudded well, named Badila-2, is expected to be drilled to a depth of 2,100 meters and is targeting Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs. As the first development well in the field, the Company has an extensive coring, logging and flow testing program with results expected during first quarter of 2013.
As previously disclosed, a prior exploration well, Badila-1, was drilled by a previous operator in 2002 but was not flow tested at the time even though downhole sampling suggested moveable light oil in the Lower Cretaceous horizons. After in-depth analysis of the available information on the Badila-1 well, Griffiths concluded Badila-1 was a potential discovery with an estimated 123 meters of net oil pay in the Lower Cretaceous (C and D sands). The mechanical condition of the well, as abandoned by the original operator, only allowed access to perforate 23.5 meters of the net oil pay in the C sands.
Based on the Company’s internal analysis, in April of 2012 the Badila-1 was re-entered and tested the 23.5 meters of oil pay that was mechanically accessible. The results of the multi-rate well test showed the sandstone reservoirs to be highly permeable with natural flow of light 31-32o API crude oil at rates of approximately 3,000 – 4,000 barrels per day over a period of 24 hours with 0% water-cut. These production rates were constrained by the physical testing and flaring equipment at surface.
The Company applied for an Exclusive Exploitation Authorization for Badila, which was granted by the Government of Chad August 10, 2012. The Company will be drilling two new wells and recompleting Badila-1 before moving the drilling rig to the Mangara field to commence development drilling.
