By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 27 -- A unit of TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd., Dallas, has completed acquisition of two subsidiaries of Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Uretim AS for $96.5 million.
With the acquisition of Amity Oil International and Petrogas, TransAtlantic Worldwide acquired 50-100% interests in 18 exploration licenses and one production lease, consisting of 1.3 million gross acres (1 million net acres) in the Thrace basin northwest of Istanbul and 730,000 gross and net acres in central Turkey.
The licenses produce a combined 7 MMcfd of gas net to Amity and Petrogas’ interest. An estimated 10 MMcfd of gas output awaits connection to a pipeline. Zorlu is to use $20 million of the purchase proceeds to build pipelines to connect the Amity and Petrogas licenses to local and national gas distribution points.
TransAtlantic, which also produces 7 MMcfd of gas at Edirne field, has mobilized fracture stimulation equipment to the Thrace basin to pursue known gas in tight sands and shale formations.
The first wells to be treated, starting in September, will be reentries on License 3791, in which TransAtlantic will acquire an interest under its agreement with Turkey’s state Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi (TPAO). It has also identified reentry candidates on Amity and Petrogas licenses.
TransAtlantic plans to interpret a large amount of 3D seismic data acquired with Amity and Petrogas, much of which is concentrated on two licenses jointly operated by Amity and TPAO.
The company is interpreting the recently shot western extension 3D seismic survey at Edirne and plans to fill gaps in 3D seismic coverage in the Thrace basin to facilitate building an inventory of deep and shallow conventional prospects.
It has just completed a 165-sq km 3D seismic survey on Amity’s License 4037, directly south of TransAtlantic’s Edirne license, and plans to immediately begin another survey on the southern half of License 4037 to image deeper structures highlighted by old wells.
The seismic crew will then proceed to another Amity license to image highly prospective structures in the central Thrace basin. The objective is to add to the successful shallow amplitude plays at Edirne with deeper, long-life structural plays.
TransAtlantic also plans to fracture stimulate the Abdul Aziz-1 well on License 3165 northwest of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, the second license covered by the agreement with TPAO. The well will be the first fracture stimulation of the Silurian Dadas shale, which TransAtlantic calls a Woodford equivalent, and Ordovician Bedinan sandstone, which produces oil in Arpatepe field to the southeast in the Paleozoic trend.
Photo from Odfjell Drilling.
Photo from bp.
