Melrose Resources plc has provided an update on its exploration and appraisal program in Egypt.
The Ar Rub No.1 exploration well has been drilled to test a deep Sidi Salim exploration play in the northern area of the South East El Mansoura concession. The well reached a total depth of 10,300 feet and open-hole logs suggest that two potential reservoir intervals were encountered within the target formation. The upper interval has an apparent net pay of 53 feet with an average porosity and water saturation of 21% and 35%, respectively, and the lower interval has 10 feet of net pay with a porosity and water saturation of 10% and 43%, respectively.
The potential reservoir intervals comprise a mixture of carbonates and sandstones which have not previously been tested on the concession and the wellbore conditions did not allow conclusive open-hole log data to be obtained. Therefore, the well is being prepared for testing to confirm whether the two zones will produce at commercial flow rates. Melrose’s pre-drill unrisked reserves estimate for the prospect of 90 Bcfe is unchanged pending the well test results.
The Qantara No.4 well has been sidetracked to determine whether production can be re-established from the shut-in Qantara field. The well reached a total depth of 10,454 feet and encountered a net pay interval of 11 feet with an average porosity and water saturation of 17% and 50%, respectively. The well has been cased prior to production testing.
The East Sindy No.1 exploration well has been drilled to test a shallow Sidi Salim prospect in the northern area of the South East El Mansoura concession. The well reached a total depth of 7,300 feet and, although it intersected a thick net sand interval of 400 feet, it had no commercial hydrocarbon shows. The well has therefore been plugged and abandoned.
Following the completion of operations on the Ar Rub No.1 well, the EDC-54 drilling rig will move to the West Dikirnis field to sidetrack the West Dikirnis No.7 well and recomplete it as a high-capacity, horizontal oil production well.
The EDC-9 rig will move from the Qantara field to drill the West Zahayra No.2 well in the El Mansoura concession. This well will appraise the up-dip area of the Qawasim discovery made by West Zahayra No.1 and will also test a deeper Sidi Salim exploration target which has unrisked reserves potential of 165 Bcfe with an estimated chance of success of 45%.
The ECDC-1 rig will be used to drill the Ghizala No.1 well on a recently identified Sidi Salim prospect in the South East Mansoura concession. The prospect lies on trend with Ar Rub and the Tamad oil field which is currently producing 1,100 bopd.  Ghizala has unrisked reserves potential of 2 MMbbls of oil with an estimated chance of success of 26%.
The seismic acquisition program which commenced in March 2008 on the South East El Mansoura concession is progressing well. To date, 712 km of 2-D seismic data and 269 km² of 3-D seismic data have been acquired, with a further 486 km² of 3-D data still to be acquired.
The preliminary interpretation of the seismic data is encouraging and 10 good quality leads and prospects have been identified in the Tertiary formations and a further 16 in the older Cretaceous and Jurassic formations. In light of these results, Melrose is considering extending the 3-D seismic survey area to cover more of the concession later this year.
” The Ar Rub No.1 well in Egypt also appears interesting and we look forward to flow testing the well over the next few weeks,” said Chief Executive David Thomas.
(Rigzone)