Thailand well taps oil in untested volcanics

Pan Orient Energy Corp., Calgary, pumped and flowed 32° gravity oil at a stabilized rate of 840 b/d at a new pool discovery in the L44/43 concession in Thailand.

May 28, 2009

2 min read

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 28 -- Pan Orient Energy Corp., Calgary, pumped and flowed 32° gravity oil at a stabilized rate of 840 b/d at a new pool discovery in the L44/43 concession in Thailand.

The NSE-H3 well is producing from a previously untested volcanic reservoir 45 m thick at 610 m TVD. Water cut is less than 0.5%.

Pan Orient, operator with 60% working interest, said pressure data and oil gravity confirm the pool to be separate from the underlying main volcanic reservoir that yields 36° gravity crude.

Pan Orient plugged back to test the shallow zone when the hole began collapsing after penetrating the main volcanic target zone at 802 m TVD in the field's central fault compartment and encountering severe drilling fluid losses with free oil observed at surface.

No drilling fluid was lost while drilling the shallower interval, suggesting a conventional-type oil reservoir with primary porosity and possibly nonfracture-dominated permeability. The company will redrill the deeper main volcanic objective later.

Preliminary analysis indicates eight other wells cut this same shallow volcanic zone, which averaged 50 m thick. The NSE-I1 and NSE-J1 wells are drilling just above their primary volcanic reservoir objectives, and Pan Orient will slot more wells to target the shallow zone into the 2009 drilling schedule.