By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 14 -- Saudi Aramco has reported a gas discovery in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province 50 km south of its giant Ghawar field and 220 km southeast of Riyadh.
The company said its Kassab-1 well flowed on test at 16.2 MMscfd on a 44/64-in. choke at a wellhead pressure of 1,520 psi.
Kassab-1 was tested on Aug. 7 at 15,750 ft in the Lower Devonian Jauf sandstone reservoir underlying the prolific Upper Permian Khuff reservoir.
Pre-Khuff formations at 11,000-17,000 ft are among the major gas-bearing reservoirs in Persian Gulf countries. The Jauf reservoir has permeability and porosity variations with varying amounts of framework and pore lining clay. It exhibits unconsolidation intermingled with consolidated sandstone. The high-permeability layers have excellent flow capacities, Saudi Aramco says. Jauf reservoir sandstones primarily are of quartz with some feldspars such as orthoclase and microcline in some sandstones (OGJ, May 10, 2004, p. 35).
Saudi Arabia, which has one of the world's largest gas reserves, is pursuing an aggressive natural gas development program, tapping nonassociated gas reserves, particularly in the greater Ghawar field area, to meet a strong domestic demand for gas. Gas increasingly is fueling electric power generation, seawater desalination, petrochemicals production, and other industrial applications (OGJ, July 29, 2002, p. 20).
