KHE-8 will therefore be suspended as a future oil producer.
Gulfsands Petroleum is also pleased to confirm that the Khurbet East No 9 well (KHE-9), the next development well in the Khurbet East field, was spudded on April 9, 2009.
KHE-8 Delineation Well
The KHE-8 well is located 2.7 kilometers to the south of KHE-1 and was designed to provide geologic information on the southern limits of the Khurbet East field and to be available to serve as a disposal well for the water that is expected to be eventually produced in conjunction with oil production from the Khurbet East field.
The well was drilled to a total depth of 2,013 meters and encountered the top of the Cretaceous Massive reservoir at 1,940 meters. Preliminary analysis of the wireline logs and drilling data indicates that the well encountered a 23 meter gross (15 meter net) oil-bearing interval within the Massive reservoir with average porosity in excess of 23% over the net oil-bearing section. The top of the reservoir was encountered around 18 meters shallower than the pre-drill prediction. As has been the case with all wells drilled within the Khurbet East field, a definitive oil-water contact has not been identified in this well as the primary reservoir section lies directly above a relatively impermeable and low porosity section.
An open hole drill-stem test of the gross reservoir interval was conducted using artificial lift with nitrogen injection resulting in limited amounts of oil being produced to surface, indicative of poorer reservoir quality than encountered in the central portion of the field.
The rig was moved off location to commence drilling of the KHE-9 development well and acid stimulation of the KHE-8 gross reservoir interval was conducted by a coil tubing operation. Post stimulation, the well produced oil to surface under nitrogen lift during an 8 hour initial flow period, achieving a stabilized rate of 617 bopd of 23 degrees API oil with 1-2% being bulk sediment and water (BS&W).
Under natural flow, the well flowed at an average oil rate of around 120 bopd over a 12 hour period through a 40/64 inch choke with a BS&W of 1%. These test results suggest that some form of artificial lift will be required to place this well on continuous production, a practice that is standard for producing oil wells in this region.
The KHE-8 well will now be suspended as a future oil producer.
KHE-9 Spudded
The KHE-9 well was spudded on April 9, 2009 and is located around one kilometer south of KHE-1. KHE-9 will be the first of three development wells planned to support the expansion of the early production facilities capacity to 18,000 barrels per day. The drilling and completion is likely to take 45 days to complete.
Ric Malcolm, Gulfsands Petroleum chief executive officer, said
“We are very pleased with the results of the KHE-8 well as it demonstrates that the Khurbet East Field extends significantly further south than previously interpreted and that commercially attractive oil production rates can be achieved from wells located in poorer reservoir quality some distance away from the central portion of the field.”
