The Australia-listed oil and gas company, Cooper Energy has just disclosed that it will drill a second wellbore in the Hammamet West-3 field, in the Bargou Permit, offshore Tunisia.
In August 2013, Cooper Energy began production testing of the first well in the license positioned 1.6km east of Hammamet West-2, in a water depth of 54 metres. Cooper Energy is the operator and a 30% combined venture interest-holder of the Bargou Exploration Permit. Dragon Oil holds a 55% interest and Jacka Resources holds the remaining 15% stake in the license. About US$80 million is the cost of the Hammamet West-3 project.
The energy firm made public that the decision to drill a second wellbore was made after it found open hydrocarbon bearing fractures in the field during production tests of the first well. However the drilling could not be entirely accomplished because of ongoing blockages and obstructions caused by lost circulation material,” the company said. The first wellbore reportedly tested flow rates of about 1,290bpd of crude.
The maximum total gas level recorded was 37%, with onsite gas compositional analysis indicating the likely presence of oil.
The drilling of Hammamet West-3 has taken longer than anticipated, however the shows encountered in the horizontal well section are encouraging and, at this stage, appear to validate the pre-drill reservoir model.
The best fractures identified by pre-drill seismic studies are yet to be encountered and the firm looks forward to drilling these in the coming days. When the horizontal well section is complete, the joint venture may decide to conduct a production test which could take another 20 days.
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