Oryx Petroleum has discovered and tested crude oil on the Hawler license area at Ain Al Safra in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The Ain Al Safra well will be appraised in 2014 as part of a multi-well appraisal and development drilling programme.
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Oryx Petroleum chief operating officer Henry Legarre said that it is the company’s second oil discovery on the Hawler license area.
"Based on the results of the recently completed test programme at Ain Al Safra, we are proceeding with further analysis and appraisal to determine the size and quality of the discovery as well as its potential commerciality," Legarre added.
In June, the Sakson Hilong 10 rig spudded the exploration well targeting the Ain Al Safra prospect in the Hawler license area.
The AAS-1 well, which targeted oil potential primarily in the lower Jurassic and Triassic and secondarily in the Cretaceous, contained 225 million barrels of unrisked gross prospective resources.
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By GlobalDataIn early September, the well reached a depth of 3,039m in the uppermost Triassic and was originally scheduled to be drilled to a total depth of 3,700m.
The first and second drill stem tests (DSTs) conducted at the AAS-1 well tested the Butmah and Adayiah formations, respectively.
Each formation’s logging results indicated the presence of fractures. The results of both tests were inconclusive as they could not connect to a permeable fracture network and flow fluids to surface.
The well was flowed using 20/64in and 16/64in choke sizes, which yielded average oil flow rates of 850 barrels a day and 675 barrels a day respectively, over eight-hour flow periods.
Further analysis of the AAS-1 well will be conducted by Oryx Petroleum, which also intends to drill an appraisal well at Ain Al Safra in 2014.
Besides appraising the discovery in the Alan and Mus formations, appraisal drilling is expected to include the Triassic Kurra Chine formation, which was not possible with the AAS-1 well.
Image: The Sakson Hilong 10 rig spudded the exploration well in June 2013, targeting the Ain Al Safra prospect. Photo: courtesy of Vlado / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
