Following the latest testing on the Shaikan-1 well, Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) said it has now demonstrated aggregate capacity of more than 20,000bopd (barrels of oil per day) “from just a fraction” of the Shaikan discovery in Kurdistan.
The major Shaikan-1 discovery was the company’s first exploration well in Kurdistan, Iraq, and it provided GKP with its key operational highlight in 2009. Shaikan-1 has an independently assessed resource in the range of 1.9bn barrels to 7.4bn barrels, with further upside potential identified. To date, appraisal of the Shaikhan discovery has encountered this significant resource across several formations - the Cretaceous Sarmord, Jurassic Barsarin, Sargelu, Alan, Mus, Butmah, Baluti and Triasic Kurre Chine.
The results show that the Butmah section of the Jurassic interval in Shaikan-1 is in-line with previous estimates. Butmah was re-tested with final production rates of 4,650bopd, of 17.68 degrees API oil and a gas-to-oil ratio of 34 standard cubic feet per barrel of oil.
"I am encouraged by this verification of the flow capacity of the Butmah formation. This test represents another step in our efforts to confirm and define the magnitude of the Shaikan discovery”, Gulf Keystone COO John Gerstenlauer commented.
“The well has now demonstrated an aggregate flow capacity of over 20,000 bopd from just a fraction of the total prospective interval. I look forward to further testing and also to commercial oil sales from the long term test of the Sargelu, commencing later this year."
Next the company will re-test the Mus section of the Jurassic, and subsequently the Sargelu section - which has already demonstrated natural flow rates of almost 7,500bopd. Sargelu will also be configured for long-term production test, following the delivery of production facility equipment earlier this month.
Production testing will last for at least 18 to 24 months and accumulate valuable data related to reservoir characteristics and oil recovery factors. The testing volumes of 8,000 to 10,000 bopd are expected to generate Gulf Keystone’s first oil production revenue in Kurdistan.
Back in May, Gulf Keystone raised US$165m, through a fully subscribed institutional placing, to fund the 2010 and early 2011 work programmes in the Kurdistan region in Iraq. And earlier this week, it began drilling its first exploration well on the Sheikh Adi block immediately to the West of the Shaikan block.
The Sheikh Adi structure has an estimated resource potential in excess of one billion barrels.
The Sheikh Adi-1 well is designed to drill through the Cretaceous, Jurassic and the Triassic age rocks, to a planned total depth of 3,850 meters and it will take six months to drill.