[Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the January 2020 edition of E&P. Subscribe to the magazine here.] 

US

Chesapeake Operating Inc. completed two wildcat Marcellus wells at a pad in Section 8, Auburn Center 7.5 Quad, Meshoppen Township in Wyoming County, Pa. The AMCOR #2HC was drilled to 1,097 ft (7,333 ft true vertical depth). It was tested flowing 84.269 MMcf/d of gas, with no reported water, after 90-stage fracturing between 7,587 ft and 20,957 ft. About 50 ft to the west, AMCOR #3HC was drilled to 20,553 ft (7,286 ft true vertical depth). It was tested flowing 64.305 MMcf/d of gas after 53-stage fracturing from perforations at 7,442 ft to 20,415 ft.

Argentina

Echo Energy is planning to drill the first well, CLM x-1, in a four-well exploration program in Argentina’s Tapi Aike Block in the Santa Cruz Austral Basin. The location is in Chiripia Oeste in the eastern part of the Tapi Aike 3-D survey area, which CGG recently surveyed. The well will be targeting a stratigraphic trap in Magallanes. A secondary horizon will be in Anita (D3). A shallower secondary interval (Magallanes 60) also will be tested. The well will be drilled in two vertical sections and has a planned depth of about 2,600 m. Cores will be cut and collected over the primary target, and well logs will be run over all intervals of interest.

Mauritania

Kosmos Energy has announced a gas discovery in the offshore Mauritania- BirAllah area at the Orca-1 exploration well. The 5,266-m well targeted a previously untested Albian play and encountered 36 m of net gas pay in excellent quality reservoirs. The well also extended the Cenomanian play fairway and confirmed 11 m of net gas pay in a down-structure position relative to the discovery well, Marsouin-1, which was drilled on the crest of the anticline. According to the company, the Orca-1 and Marsouin-1 wells have de-risked up to 50 Tcf of gas in place from the Cenomanian and Albian plays in the BirAllah area. In addition, a deeper but untested Aptian play also has been identified within the area and surrounding structures.

Norway

  • Equinor completed a Fram Field exploration well, 35/11-23 Echino South, in the North Sea. Recoverable resources are estimated at 38 MMboe to 100 MMboe. It was drilled to 2,947 m and area water depth is 350 m. The well is about 3 km southwest of the field, and the primary exploration target was to prove petroleum in the Upper Jurassic reservoir in Sognefjord. The secondary exploration target in the well was to prove petroleum rocks of the Middle Jurassic period. Hydrocarbons were proven in both exploration targets. Sidetrack well 35/11-23 A is being drilled to delineate the discovery in Sognefjord.
  • OMV Norge, operator of production license 644, has completed appraisal well 6506/11-11 S on the 6506/11- 10 (Iris) gas/condensate discovery. The well encountered a 70-m gas column in Garn with about 50 m of sandstone with reservoir properties varying from poor to good with no gas/water contact. Multiple sandstone layers totaling about 55 m were encountered with moderate-to-good reservoir quality. The primary objective was to delineate the gas/condensate discovery in Garn toward the southwest and determine if there is petroleum in reservoir rocks in the underlying Middle Jurassic Ile. During the Garn test, the well had a maximum flow rate of 1.6 MMcm of gas and 883 cu. m of condensate. Preliminary estimates indicate that Garn holds 4 MMcm to 12 MMcm of recoverable oil equivalents. The appraisal well was drilled to 4,433 m and was terminated in Ror in the Lower to Middle Jurassic.

Gabon

Vaalco Energy announced results of an offshore oil discovery at the Etame 9P appraisal well in Gabon’s Etame Field. The venture was targeting the sub-cropped Dentale reservoir. The well was drilled to 3,127 m and encountered both Gamba and Dentale oil sands. The shallower section will be plugged back to drill the Etame 9H horizontal development well section in the Gamba reservoir. The completion verifies the presence of a Dentale oil column, and it hit about 35 ft of good quality Dentale oil sands with 27% porosity and 3,000 mD of permeability. The gross recoverable oil resources are estimated at 2.5 MMbbl to 10.5 MMbbl of oil.

Egypt

Eni reported the discovery of new resources in the Abu Rudeis Sidri Concession in the Egyptian sector of the Gulf of Suez. The Sidri 36 appraisal well was drilled to assess the field continuity westward and encountered a 200-m hydrocarbon column in the clastic sequences of Nubia. It was tested flowing about 5,000 bbl/d of oil and will be completed and put into production. The Sidri South discovery is estimated to contain about 200 MMbbl of oil in place, and the field will be reassessed following these new results.

Mongolia

Petro Matad announced the results of well testing operations at the Heron-1 oil discovery in the north of Block XX in the Tamsag Basin in Mongolia. During a drillstem test, the well initially fl owed 821 bbl of 46-degree-gravity oil, an unreported amount of gas and no water per day from a 12-m interval at 2,834 m in the upper portion of Lower Tsagaantsav. It was tested on a 19/64- in. choke. The well has been shut in. The predrill resource estimated for the Heron structure is 165 MMbbl of oil in place, with 25 MMbbl (P50) of recoverable resource.

Australia

  • Strike Energy reported results from a flow test at the West Erregulla-2 well in EP469 in Western Australia. The well fl owed 69 MMcf/d of gas from Kingia Sandstone. The test program for the Perth Basin venture was to determine well deliverability from the reservoir in West Erregulla Field. Three 48-m intervals were tested between 4,799 m and 4,851 m. It was tested on a 2-in. choke, and the wellhead pressure was 700 psi. Data from the fl ow test will be analyzed and used to update models to determine the contingent resources.
  • Beach Energy has announced a 10-well appraisal program by the petroleum exploration license 92 joint venture in the South Australia portion of the Cooper Basin. The fi rst well in the program has been spud at the Callawonga- 22 well, and it is the fi rst of four appraisal wells to be drilled in the Callawonga oil field. The Callawonga-22 well is about 500 m north of a previous discovery, Callawonga-3, and it will test a possible field extension to the north. The planned depth is 1,497 m. The other wells in the program are Callawonga-19 (planned depth of 1,381 m); Callawonga-20 (no planned depth reported); Callawonga-4 (planned depth of 1,540 m) and Callawonga-21 (planned depth of 1,476 m). The Callawonga wells will be deviated from two surface locations and will be targeting Namur Sandstone. The overlying McKinlay Sands are a secondary objective. Four additional wells are planned in Butlers oil field, and two are planned in the Rincon oil field.

For additional information on these projects and other global developments, visit the activity highlights database at https://www.hartenergy.com/activity-highlights.