Appraisal results spur Perla development planning

April 12, 2010
Eni SPA, Repsol-YPF SA, and Petroleos de Venezuela SA are considering rapid development of the giant Perla gas discovery in the Gulf of Venezuela after better-than-expected results in an appraisal well.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 12
-- Eni SPA, Repsol-YPF SA, and Petroleos de Venezuela SA are considering rapid development of the giant Perla gas discovery in the Gulf of Venezuela after better-than-expected results in an appraisal well.

The Cardon IV SA Perla 2 well, drilled in 60 m of water, cut 840 ft of net pay in Oligocene carbonates with reservoir characteristics Eni described as “excellent.”

The results “largely exceeded predrill expectations,” the company said.

Cardon IV SA, a 50-50 combine of Eni and Repsol-YPF, operates the Cardon IV Block during exploration. PDVSA has a 35% back-in right for development, during which Eni and Repsol-YPF will hold 32.5% interests each. The three companies will jointly operate the project during development.

On production tests, the Perla 2 well flowed 1.4 million cu m/day of gas and 1,500 b/d of condensate. Eni said normalized gas production can exceed 70 MMscfd/well with 2,000 b/d of condensate.

The operators recovered 700 ft of bottom-hole cores in the appraisal well.

On the basis of Perla 2 results, Repsol-YPF increased the estimate of field reserves by 30% to 1.6-1.85 billion boe of gas and condensate.

The Spanish company said the combine will drill two more wells this year.

Eni said fast-track development under discussion would target early-phase production of 300 MMscfd, starting by mid-2013.

Eni and Repsol-YPF drilled the discovery well, Perla 1X, last year to 2,147 m TD in 60 m of water, encountering 240 m of net hydrocarbon pay. The well flowed on production tests at equipment-limited rates of 570,000 cu m/day of gas with 620 b/d of condensate (OGJ, Oct. 26, 2009, Newsletter).