Vast Exploration (Vast) has revealed that AJM Petroleum Consultants (AJM) has completed an independent, initial resource assessment of the company's Qara Dagh Block, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
AJM has estimated an unrisked ‘Best Estimate’ of 2.7 billion barrels of Petroleum Initially in Place as of December 31, 2009.
Vast Exploration has a 37% interest in the Qara Dagh Block. The company obtained a 27% interest pursuant to a production sharing contract signed in 2008 with the Kurdistan regional government and holds an additional 10% interest in the Qara Dagh block subject to the issue of 60,000,000 Vast common shares in accordance with the directions of the Kurdistan regional government.
A 354km 2D seismic program was completed in June 2009 and the plans have been finalized to spud the first exploration well in March 2010. Data processing and interpretations have been completed and integrated with regional and surface geological models. Three main prospects, which correspond to the three domes on the surface structure, have been confirmed by seismic mapping, the company said.
The Qara Dagh Block is located in the prolific Zagros foldbelt which extends from southern Turkey across northern Iraq and into southwest Iran. Large anticlinal structures, which formed during collision and formation of the Zagros Mountains, contain giant and supergiant accumulations of oil. The large surface structure on the block is known as Qara Dagh Mountain (Black Mountain in Kurdish).
There has been no prior oil exploration on the Qara Dagh Block and the entire Kurdish area of northern Iraq was virtually unexplored until the Kurdish regional government issued new exploration contracts in 2007.
However, to the northeast, these formations lose prospectivity as intense deformation has caused the Tertiary formations to be exposed on the land surface. This deformation has resulted in highly fractureds subsurface structures formed by the deeper Mesozoic formations. As a result, the main reservoirs at TaqTaq and Miran are formed by the Cretaceous Shiranish, Kometan and Qamchuqa Formations.
The company said that extrapolation from nearby oil fields, recent discoveries and the seismic interpretations indicate seven potential reservoirs on the Qara Dagh structure. Fractured carbonates in the Cretaceous Shiranish, Kometan and Qamchuqa/Balambo formations are prospective under the Kolosh shale seal and above a rich oil source rock in the Sarmord Formation.
The Jurassic Alan, Mus and Butmah formations are sealed by upper Jurassic anhydrite and charged by the Sargelu Shale which forms a regional oil source rock. Few wells have been drilled into the Triassic; however, the Kurra Chine is productive elsewhere in Iraq and could contain oil or liquids-rich gas at Qara Dagh.
The company believes that proximity of the Qara Dagh Block to recent discoveries at TaqTaq and Miran and the presence of oil seepages on the block make the Qara Dagh structure a low risk prospect with the potential for the discovery of large oil reserves.