Apache Corporation reported that the Heqet-2 appraisal well in Egypt’s Greater Khalda area is producing approximately 2,100 barrels of oil per day from the Jurassic Safa formation.
Apache also said the Umbarka-174 well tested approximately 4,300 barrels of oil per day from 46 feet of perforations in the Alam El Bueib (AEB) 3D sand in a 40-year-old field also located in the Greater Khalda area.
The Heqet-2 was drilled to a total depth of 14,700 feet, about one-half mile from the Heqet-1 discovery drilled in the Faghur Basin in 1991. The new well is about 66 miles southwest of Apache’s large Qasr gas and condensate field and 66 miles east of the Libyan border.
"Using improvements in fracture stimulation technology, we have turned a marginally economic play into a potentially significant oil accumulation," said Apache President and CEO G. Steven Farris. We are planning four wildcats targeting Jurassic oil pools in the Heqet and Neith South areas, and we are studying other ways to increase productivity through fracture stimulation. Heqet-2 is a good example of the opportunities to be found across Apache’s 15 million acres in Egypt."
The Heqet Safa oil accumulation is estimated to be about 835 acres. The prospective area of the Jurassic oil play fairway associated with the Faghur Basin is estimated to comprise approximately 830 square miles, mostly within Apache-operated concessions.
Oil produced in Heqet Field and nearby Kalabsha and Neith Fields is found in Jurassic-aged sands below 14,000 feet that were sourced from nearby Jurassic-aged shales and coals buried within the Faghur Basin. The Faghur Basin has much cooler temperatures than the Shushan Basin, the location of the Jurassic Qasr field, Apache’s largest field; thus, a large portion of the Faghur Basin is oil-bearing, as opposed to the hotter-temperature, gas-bearing Shushan Basin.
The Umbarka-174 was drilled to a total depth of 11,306 feet to develop AEB-3D reserves in an independent three-way fault closure of approximately 150 acres located northeast of the Umbarka field’s main AEB-3D accumulation. Apache is planning to drill five additional AEB wells in the Umbarka area.
The Umbarka field, which was discovered in 1968, has produced a total of 33 million barrels of oil. Since taking over operation in March 2001, Apache has drilled 137 wells in the field and increased production from about 1,100 barrels of oil per day from five wells to the current level of 15,000 barrels per day. A waterflood development of approximately 7,300 acres in the Upper Bahariya formation produces approximately 70 percent of the field’s current output.

(Rigzone)