Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 18 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Tethys Petroleum Limited, the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Central Asia and the Caspian Region, provided an update on operations in Kazakhstan on Friday.
According to the company, the KBD01 (Kalypso) comprehensive testing programme initially on the Permo-Carboniferous interval will commence in early December. The testing programme will involve initial perforation and potentially acidisation followed by fracture stimulation of the carbonate interval approximately 4,100 meters below the surface and will take up to one month to complete.
"Electric logs run over this section indicated more than 100 metres of gross potential hydrocarbon bearing zones in what are interpreted to be shelf limestones with hydrocarbon shows also being noted whilst drilling," the company said.
The shallow gas exploration program is expected to commence in early November and the wells are expected to be drilled consecutively on a number of additional prospects and leads which have been identified based on seismic data.
"The planned gas exploration wells are typically 600-800 meters measured depth and will take up to three weeks each to drill. Currently these are located mainly in the central and south-eastern part of the Akkulka Exploration Contract and relatively close to existing gas infrastructure and the Akkulka Production Contract area," the company said.
The latest 3D seismic program on the Akkulka Block is over 78 percent complete with a planned 100 square kilometres of 3D data being acquired over further prospects identified north west of the producing Doris wells and with similar Cretaceous reservoirs predicted. Furthermore an additional 35 kilometres of 2D data has been acquired and recently processed within the Akkulka block, but targeting additional areas of interest in and around the shallow producing Kyzyloi gas field. This is in addition to the 200 kilometres of 2D seismic data also recently acquired and processed over the wider KulBas exploration area.
Following the successful approval of Phase 2b of the Aral Oil Terminal earlier in the year Phase 3 expansion is expected to be approved some time in November. Under Phase 3 an electrical dehydrator has now been installed and is operationally ready which will significantly improve the quality of oil. It is expected to realise a higher oil price once this equipment is applied in the oil preparation process.
Due to a programme involving the installation and optimization of artificial lift equipment and improvements in fluid handling, oil production levels have been temporarily reduced, and currently the field is producing some 2,250 barrels of oil per day. Mechanical issues relating to the effective installation and operation of the downhole pumps have delayed completion of this programme, however it is expected these issues will be resolved within the next ten days whereupon it is planned to resume production of approximately 3,500 barrels of oil per day.
"The workover and additional testing operations on the AKD03 in the Dione oil field well planned for the first quarter of 2014 are expected to add some 500 barrels of oil per day subject to test results," the company said.
Tethys' AKD08 ("Doto") located to the south-west of the company's producing Doris field and north of its Dione oil discovery in Kazakhstan well has reached a depth of 1,368 metres and electric logs have been run in the hole. The Doto well is expected to take approximately 70 days in total to drill to a planned total depth of 3,500 metres using Tethys' own ZJ70 "Telesto" rig. The well is designed to target several potential zones, including the Lower Cretaceous sandstone and Upper Jurassic carbonate sequences as proven in Doris, and also the deeper Triassic sequence.
Whilst drilling in the shallower levels at approximately 600 metres, high levels of gas were encountered and these shows together with the logs indicate a potential gas discovery at the Tasaran stratigraphic level as previously demonstrated to be commercial on test in the nearby AKK14 and AKK15 wells. It is expected that a gas appraisal well could now be incorporated into the forward shallow gas drilling program to test this accumulation.
The AKD09 ("Dexa") exploration well located to the North-West of the producing Doris field is planned to spud on October 26th. The well is designed to target Lower Cretaceous channel sandstone sequences similar to the current major producing unit in the Doris field. It is forecast to take approximately 45 - 50 days to drill to a planned total depth of 2,400 metres.