By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 30 -- Deer Lake Oil & Gas Inc., St. John's, said an exploratory well encountered the Cambro-Ordovician carbonate platform for the first time at depth in the Deer Lake basin onshore western Newfoundland, and the company bid successfully for more acreage nearby.
Western Adventure-2 on EP 93-103 encountered the carbonate platform at 761.5 m. The carbonate platform is the target reservoir in the Parsons Pond and Port au Port/Garden Hill areas of western Newfoundland 60-100 km to the southwest.
The company intends to re-enter and deepen the well, suspended at 1,325 m (see maps, OGJ, Dec. 24, 2001, p. 36). The well encountered gas shows in porous and fractured zones at several levels and is to be logged to determine whether any zones are candidates for drillstem tests.
"Field outcrop and laboratory studies of rock samples from the area west of the Deer Lake basin (where the Cambro-Ordovician carbonate platform sequence is exposed at surface) demonstrate that excellent porosity and permeability can be developed over thick intervals of this sequence particularly where overthrusting of the sequence occurs," the company said.
Overthrusting appears to be present on seismic at the well's location, and the company plans to deepen the well to test targets in the footwall carbonate sequence. Carboniferous and Cambro-Ordovician carbonates will both be targets of future drilling.
Deer Lake bid successfully for 150,927 acres on two permits adjacent to EP 93-103, bringing its holding in the basin to 223,000 acres in mid-December.
The company was successful on a 35,063-acre parcel in the Parsons Pond area. Interests there are private East Resources Inc., Wexford, Pa., 72.47%; Deer Lake 17.39%; and Ammonite Resources Inc., New Canaan, Conn., and private 554568 Alberta Ltd., each 5.07%.
The ministry accepted the bids subject to filing of appropriate work commitment bonds.