This is the first deep appraisal well to be drilled on the company’s substantial Shaikan oil discovery.
Gulf Keystone has an effective 75% working interest in the block and is partnered with the MOL subsidiary, Kalegran, which has 20% and Texas Keystone International has the remaining 5%.
The well design for Shaikan-2 has been modified to drill through the geo-pressured sections of the Triassic age rocks.
This high pressure interval forced the cessation of drilling on Shaikan-1, when the well experienced the inflow of significant volumes of oil and gas from a section of the middle Triassic.
The Shaikan-2 well is designed to drill through the Cretaceous, Jurassic and the Triassic to a planned total depth in the Permian, depending on well results, of 5,000m.
The company said that drilling and testing is expected to take six months.
