Colombia’s Ecopetrol SA has deemed the initial commercial viability of the Akacias area to the National Hydrocarbons Agency.
The area is in the Acacias municipality in the Meta Department on CPO-09 block, which is being developed jointly by operator Ecopetrol and Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc.
Ecopetrol said oil in place is estimated to reach at least 1.3 billion bbl with an estimated minimum 10% recovery factor. The company estimates an initial incorporation of 35 million bbl of reserves, 55% of which are owned by Ecopetrol in accordance with its participating interest in the contract.
Development and production is expected to begin in an area covering 9,825 ha, 4.7% of the 208,248 ha CPO-09 Block. The partners are continuing their exploration activity in search of more hydrocarbon reserves.
Akacias is adjacent to Ecopetrol’s major direct-operations area, with its Castilla, Chichimene, and Apiay fields currently producing a total of 215,000 boe/d.
“Akacias constitutes one of the major exploration achievements in recent years in Colombia and clearly shows the heavy crude potential in the area of Llanos, which is the focus of the exploratory campaign to reach Ecopetrol’s target of producing 1 million of clean bbl in 2015 and 1.3 million bbl in 2020,” stated Javier Gutierrez Pemberthy, Ecopetrol’s chief executive officer.
Nine wells have been drilled as part of the Akacias area delimitation campaign. The discovery well Akacias-1 was drilled at yearend 2010 (OGJ Online, Dec. 1, 2010), while extended production tests began in May 2011 (OGJ Online, Nov. 2, 2011), reaching an average production of 2,000 b/d.
The cumulative production reached 1.5 million bbl of crude with 7-9° API gravity. Talisman in February 2012 stated its intention to deem Akacias commercial (OGJ Online, Feb. 16, 2012).
The total current average production of the tested wells is 5,500 boe/d and Ecopetrol estimates reaching a production volume of 25,000 boe/d by yearend 2015.
