Burullus Gas Company said that the Sapphire field in the West Delta Deep Marine concession (WDDM) has been on production since 2005 and has entered a new phase of development. The WDDM Phase 8A drilling development campaign has already delivered three successful satellite wells, and two further wells will be drilled in the main field area and tied back during 2010 and 2011.

The Sapphire field is a complex reservoir of lower Pliocene age, currently producing from eight wells with four single zone and four dual zone completions in several stacked reservoirs, due to the complexity of the reservoir architecture, completion types and subsea infrastructure a full field geocellular model has been constructed for the purpose of development planning and well design. The model has been history matched with production data from the existing development wells. Since the early phases of the project, high resolution seismic data has been acquired and a seismic inversion study has been performed. Attributes from the inversion study have allowed improved reservoir definition, particularly  determining the spatial distribution of massive sandstone beds. The planned infill wells are aimed at accessing gas in compartments that are considered to be undrained by existing wells.

The main field is surrounded by a number of smaller satellites, three of which have been drilled since mid-2009 and found gas bearing. A significant amount of gas in place has been added to the available resources and will be tied back to the shore over the coming period.