Parex Resources, a Canadian company focused on Colombian oil exploration and production, has claimed an oil discovery in the Capachos Block in Colombia through the drilling of the Andina-1 well.

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Image: Onshore drilling. Photo: courtesy of Zbynek Burival on Unsplash.

Capachos (WI Parex 50%, Ecopetrol S.A 50%): Parex, as operator, spud its first exploration well, Andina-1, on June 3, 2018 and the well was rig released on August 26, 2018. The Andina-1 well encountered the primary Guadalupe Formation reservoir at 16,700 feet and was subsequently drilled to 17,500 feet to evaluate a deeper prospective target in the Une Formation.

Logging results from the Andina-1 exploration well indicate potential hydrocarbon bearing zones in the Mirador, Guadalupe and Une formations.

The Guadalupe Formation was the primary target and logs suggest the presence of a high-quality reservoir, similar to what was encountered in the Capachos-2 well that tested 3,650 barrels of oil per day (“bopd”) of light oil (please refer to the November 7, 2017 press release: “Parex Announces 2017 Third Quarter Results”).

The Une Formation, which is the deepest prospective zone, was completed and production testing commenced on September 7, 2018.  A total of 5,454 barrels of 42 API oil, 227 barrels of water and 19.4 million cubic feet (“MMCF”) of natural gas have been recovered to date.

Over a 54 hour period the average production test rate for the well was 2,424 bopd and 8.6 million cubic feet per day (“MMCFD”) of natural gas.  The final production rate recorded over the last 4 hours of the test period was 2,545 bopd and 8.7 MMCFD of natural gas with a watercut of 2%.

Bottom hole pressure recorders in the well indicate a stable producing drawdown of 12% and a pressure buildup will be conducted at the end of the test.

Parex is in the process of commissioning a gas plant with capacity of 10 MMCFD to process rich gas production from the Capachos operations into liquids and lean gas.

The lean gas will be sold to a third party to generate power on site for sales into the local power grid. The gas plant will also be used to process associated gas from multiple Capachos wells.

Encouraged by the production test rates of Andina-1 in the Une Formation and the log results in an additional two potential oil-bearing zones, the Company is preparing initial operational plans for the Andina Norte-1 exploration well, which will appraise an adjacent undrilled prospect on the same trend.

Production: Parex’ Q3 2018 average production to-date is approximately 44,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (“boe/d”) compared to the Company’s Q3 2017 average quarterly production of 36,195 boe/d.  We expect average Q4 2018 production to exceed 48,000 boe/d.

Source: Company Press Release