Heritage Oil said that it has reached target depth of 2,935m on the Miran West-1 exploration well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The well encountered oil shows over an interval of 1,100m and light oil was recovered to surface during drilling operations.
According to the company the evidence from wireline logs and shows whilst drilling indicates the presence of hydrocarbons in the three main producing zones in the region; the Shiranish, Kometan and Qamchuqua reservoirs. Heritage anticipates that it will commence testing operations on the Miran West-1 well within 10 days, following completion of wireline logging operations.
The testing program is expected to take up to one month to complete. The company plans to perforate the highly prospective fractured zones and run a series of drill stem tests (DSTs) through casing over a gross interval of approximately 500m.
It said that the Miran license contains two large structures covering approximately 330sqkm. These structures, Miran West and Miran East, have been mapped from the 332km of seismic data acquired by Heritage between April 2008 and June 2008.
Tony Buckingham, CEO of Heritage Oil, said: This is a good time for Heritage as we make preparations to test the Miran West-1 exploration well. The excellent oil shows over such a large interval of 1.1km highlights the multi-billion barrel oil potential of the prospects on the Miran license, given the extensive area of the two Miran structures.
