Central Asia-focused Tethys Petroleum said Tuesday that it has tested oil from the uppermost pay zone in its AKD03 Dione well in Kazakhstan, Proactive Investors reported.
The Cretaceous interval, at 1,630 metres, tested 40 degrees API oil from a six metre normally pressured sand.
However, the company said that the previous injection of drilling fluids to safely stabilize the well for drilling deeper resulted in some formation damage, leading to minor flow to date on the initial test.
The company said it is looking to source additional equipment that would bypass this formation damage, and achieve production from the unaffected part of the reservoir. Currently, such equipment is not available and operations have thus been suspended until likely this August. Production rates are expected to improve with the removal of the formation damage.
The Dione well, which reached a total depth of 3,975 metres in the Triassic formation, tested oil at a rate of some 400 barrels of oil per day from Jurassic sands and now has also tested oil from the Cretaceous sandstones.
"This well has achieved several of the objectives which were set prior to drilling," said vice president of exploration, Rosemary Johnson-Sabine.
"The fact that we have tested oil from two horizons in this well, with the potential for more, shows that an active oil migration system exists along the southern flank of the Akkulka high."
The company said the structures appear somewhat more complex in the Dione well area, but with the help of new 3D seismic data, Tethys is expected to better understand the potential of the zone for future well locations.
Elsewhere in Kazakhstan, Tethys is continuing to appraise its Doris discovery, with the well expected to be at total depth shortly. Meanwhile, the AKD04 Dero well is currently being prepared for testing while awaiting final permits from the Kazak authorities, expected in the middle of next month.
Tethys is focused on oil and gas exploration and production in Central Asia, with specifically in the Republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.