Apache Corp., Houston, added two land discoveries to its long list of exploration successes onshore Egypt, one of which when appraised could become the western desert’s third largest gas field in rocks of Jurassic age.
Production is to start from the Syrah 1X gas discovery in the western desert in mid-2005, while oil and gas will begin flowing from the Tanzanite 1-X discovery on the West Mediterranean Concession as soon as Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. approves a development lease (OGJ, Apr. 11, 2005, Newsletter).
Jurassic gas-condensate
Syrah 1X is on a separate closure 3.3 miles northwest of Qasr field and seismically appears to be at least one fourth the size of Qasr, the largest find in Apache’s history, said Rodney J. Eichler, Apache’s vice-president in charge of Egyptian operations.
Qasr’s estimated ultimate recovery is 2 tcf of gas and 45 million bbl of condensate.
Syrah 1X flowed 46.5 MMcfd of gas on a 48⁄64-in. choke with 3,980 psi flowing wellhead pressure from Jurassic Lower Safa perforations at 13,750-905 ft. TD is 14,445 ft.
The discovery is in a Jurassic fault block separate and downdip from Qasr field and is overlain by a four-way dip closure at the Cretaceous Alam al Bueib (AEB) 3D formation. The well is on the Khalda concession, where Apache holds 100% contractor interest.
Syrah 1X logged 266 ft of net pay from Cretaceous to Jurassic horizons between 11,400 ft and 13,918 ft. The thickest pay, 174 ft between 13,744 ft and 13,918 ft, is in the Lower Safa and is stratigraphically similar to Qasr field.
Syrah 1X also logged 32 ft of net pay in the Jurassic Upper Safa and 60 ft of potential oil pay in AEB sands.
Pressure analysis indicates that the AEB 3E pay may be in communication with Qasr and Ozoris fields 3 miles to the south, Apache said.
The Syrah well’s structural/stratigraphic trap in the Jurassic Lower Safa encompasses a 606-ft hydrocarbon column over a potential area of more than 4,000 acres.
Syrah’s gas will flow through Apache’s new Qasr field production facility starting this summer, adding to the company’s present western desert gross production of 300 MMcfd. Apache has contracts that will more than double its western desert production to 637 MMcfd as more processing capacity comes on line in the next few years. The rig that drilled the Syrah discovery moved .2-mile southwest to drill Syrah 2, targeting AEB oil pays.
Tanzanite discovery
Tanzanite 1X discovery flowed 5,296 b/d of oil and 7.4 MMcfd of gas with 814 psi of flowing wellhead pressure on a 1-in. choke from 13 ft of perforations in the AEB 3A sandstone.
The well logged a combined 207 ft of net pay from several Cretaceous horizons between 8,670 ft and 11,560 ft. TD is 12,440 ft. Contractor interests on the West Mediterranean concession are Apache 65% and RWE Dea 35%.
Tanzanite 1X was drilled to test a seismically defined four-way dip closure 1.7 miles southeast of North Alamein field and production facilities, through which it will be produced.
The Tanzanite 2 appraisal well will be drilled to test the Alamein dolomite at a location .4-mile northeast of the Tanzanite 1X surface location. The well also will be designed to test and produce the overlying Kharita and Dahab reservoirs at this structurally updip location. ✦
