Azerbaijan, Baku, July 29 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Tethys Petroleum Limited, the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Central Asia and the Caspian Region updated its Kazakhstan drilling schedule previously announced as part of the Kazakhstan work program through the first quarter of 2014, the company reported on Monday.
"Our world-class farm-out agreement in Tajikistan has enabled the Company to use these funds to accelerate our drilling program in Kazakhstan demonstrating the real synergies in our portfolio," Executive Chairman and President of Tethys David Robson said.
According to the updated program, AKD08 ("Doto") and AKD09 ("Dexa") wells will be drilled simultaneously providing significant cost savings and providing exposure to two potentially high impact prospects this year.
The AKD08 ("Doto") Exploration well is located to the south-west of the producing Doris field and north of the Dione oil discovery. The Doto prospect has 22 million barrels gross mean unrisked recoverable prospective oil resources attributed to it (Gustavson & Associates) in the Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic sequences. The deeper Triassic sequence has not been independently assessed as yet and therefore the Company is unable to quote a reportable resource estimate for this horizon but the Company believes it to be an attractive prospect. This well is planned to commence drilling operations in early September and is forecast to take approximately 70 days to drill to a planned total depth of 3,500 meters using Tethys' own ZJ70 "Telesto" rig.
The AKD09 ("Dexa") exploration/appraisal well is located to the North-west of the producing Doris field. The Dexa prospect has 14 million barrels gross mean unrisked recoverable prospective oil resources attributed to it (Gustavson & Associates). This well is planned to commence drilling operations at the end of September and is forecast to take approximately 45 - 50 days to drill to a planned total depth of 2,400 metres using Tethys' own ZJ30 "Tykhe" rig which is no longer needed in Tajikistan and is being mobilised from there.
Both prospects offer relatively low risk exploration/appraisal opportunities and are the two closest currently identified exploration/appraisal targets to the Doris oil field itself.
On the Doris field itself further analysis of the producing wells is underway prior to the installation of artificial lift equipment and improvements in fluid handling planned for September. This work has resulted in production levels being temporarily reduced and currently the field is producing some 2,600 barrels of oil per day and further work is underway. Once the work is completed production is planned to return to over 3,500 barrels of oil per day.
Commencing in late September/early October five further shallow gas exploration wells are expected to be drilled consecutively on a number of additional prospects and leads which have been identified based on seismic data. These are relatively low risk targets and of the last 13 shallow exploration wells previously drilled by Tethys in the Akkulka Block, 11 tested commercial gas. This accelerated program will continue into the first half of 2014.
Tethys has re-focused some of its investment into accelerating gas development and exploration after the significant increase in the realized gas price in January. Current gas production is approximately 380,000 cubic meters (13.6 million cubic feet or 2,267 barrels oil equivalent) per day.
The new Kazakhstan-China gas trunkline under construction (planned to pass through Tethys' contract areas) will provide an additional commercialization route and offers potential further price upside. Overall infrastructure in the field area is also improving and a new railway is now under construction with a new rail station planned to be built only some 70 kilometers from the Doris oilfield and 23 kilometers from the nearest Akkulka gas well. This could provide more cost effective transportation options for oil plus a nearby market for some gas.