Petroleum Africa
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Thursday, May 8, 2014
Two recent hydrocarbon discoveries made by Apache Corp. in Egypt’s Western Desert, the Herunefer-1X and BAT-1X, illustrate the continuing reserve upside to be found across the company’s acreage in the Western Desert.
The Herunefer-1X discovery, in the Matruh Basin in the eastern portion of the Khalda Offset Concession, encountered pay in the Alamein, Alam El Buieb-6 (AEB), Masajid, Upper Safa and Lower Safa formations. Tests from the Lower Safa and Upper Safa intervals flowed at a combined rate of 49 Mmcf/d of gas and 7,700 bpd of condensate.
The BAT-1X discovery in the northern Shushan Basin in the Khepri-Sethos Development Lease, tested at a rate of 31 Mmcf/d of gas and 390 bpd of condensate from a thick Paleozoic Shiffah sandstone interval. The well, which was drilled to a total depth of 15,555 ft, also encountered pay in the Cretaceous Upper Bahariya, Lower Bahariya, Alamein, AEB-3C and AEB-3D formations.
Both discoveries were drilled by Apache’s JV with Egypt’s EGPC, Khalda Petroleum Co.
“Herunefer-1X is the first of a series of exploration wells planned for the Matruh Basin area this year,” said Thomas M. Maher, Apache Egypt Region VP. “The basin remains an attractive focus area for exploration and development and has been relatively under-explored. We have identified a number of untested structural features, and trends have been mapped and identified, with the potential for stacked targets and high-condensate-yield gas objectives.”
Apache plans to construct a new, 7.5-mile (14 km) pipeline that will connect to the existing transportation grid at the Jade area manifold. From Jade, the production can be delivered to either the Salam or Tarek gas plants.
“BAT-1X is a potentially large discovery and the latest in Apache’s pursuit of stratigraphic traps and Paleozoic subcrop plays,” Maher said. “Our understanding of this play concept has evolved since the 2007 Hydra Field discovery. We now recognize that these traps and subcrop plays were key geologic elements in more than 20 previous Western Desert field discoveries.”
Apache plans to drill several trend exploration wells in 2014 to evaluate and appraise the BAT discovery. Alternatives for delivering the production to market are under evaluation.
Additional production facilities were installed at the Hydra Field during Q1. The field is currently producing 180 Mmcf/d of gas and 8,600 bpd of condensate from six wells. One additional well was recently completed and is being connected to production facilities.
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