Petrominerales Ltd. (Petrominerales) announced that the Boa-1 exploration well in Colombia is producing at over 6,000 bopd of 19 degree API oil at less than 1% water cut from the Lower Sand 1 formation. Boa-1 commenced drilling on June 26, 2009 and reached a total depth of 12,875 feet on July 25, 2009. Logs indicated 48 feet of net oil pay in the Lower Sand 1 and Lower Sand 2 formations.
The lower sand 2 tests encountered non-commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.
The company is currently drilling the Corcel-A2 side-track, targeting the structurally highest point of the Corcel A structure to access by-passed Mirador and Guadalupe pay. Petrominerales has reached the top of the Mirador formation and are preparing to run intermediate casing. The company expects to have the well on production by the end of September 2009.
The drilling rig will then be mobilized to our Guatiquia block for a two-well exploration program targeting the Percheron and Candelilla structures prior to returning to Corcel to continue our ongoing Corcel exploration program. Petrominerales commenced side-track operations on August 15, 2009 on the Chiguiro Oeste-1 well. The testing program on the original Chiguiro Oeste-1 wellbore was suspended due to uncertainty regarding the integrity of the primary cement following significant losses during the cementing operation to a lower thief zone. The companhy intends to core the entire Mirador zone and expect to have the results of the coring and testing program by the end of September. The Chiguiro Oeste-1 well is the second of our 2009 three well heavy oil exploration drilling program in the Llanos Basin. Following completion of operations on Chiguiro Oeste-1, Petrominerales will be moving the rig to the Rio Ariari block to drill Rio Ariari-1, which expects to commence in early October.
The company have completed the acquisition of 423 square kilometers of 3D seismic over our Castor, Mapache, Casanare Este, Casimena and Rio Ariari blocks and an additional 14 kilometres of 2D data was acquired on the Castor block. The seismic data has been processed and is currently being interpreted. These acquisition programs will satisfy our current seismic phase commitments on these blocks. The enhanced 3D database is expected to further define previously identified leads and structures derived from our extensive 2D data set.
The company production averaged 20,679 bopd for the month of August and is currently in excess of 25,000 bopd, including production additions form Boa-1 but excluding Corcel-A4 production of about 1,300 bopd. Corcel-A4 went offline August 26 due to the failure of the electric submersible pump. The service rig is being mobilized to Corcel-A4 to run a new pump and the company expects to have the well back on-line within 10 days. Following the Corcel-A4 workover, Petrominerales will embark on a program to upsize the electric submersible pumps and optimize production at Corcel-C1, Corcel-D2, Mapache-1 and Mirasol-1. The company expects to have this program completed by the end of October 2009.