By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 22 -- Ascent Resources PLC, London, has spudded the Hontomin-4 appraisal well on the Huermeces exploration license 17 km southeast of its Ayoluengo oil field in the Sedano basin in northern Spain.
The well's projected depth is 1,570 m, targeting Lower Jurassic and Triassic sands. Drilling is expected to take 4 weeks.
The well is being drilled updip of three earlier wells in the Hontomin structure that confirmed the presence of an oil reservoir with good quality, 32° gravity oil.
The first Hontomin well, which Chevron Corp. drilled in the 1960s, had oil shows in the Liassic Carniolas Dolomites. The Hontomin-2 discovery well drilled in 1968 produced on test nearly 3,000 bbl of oil over a 26-day period. Initial rates were more than 300 b/d of oil, but a rapidly increasing water cut suggested that the well was close to the oil-water contact, Ascent said.
The unsuccessful Hontomin-3 well, drilled in 1991, was drilled downdip and on the wrong side of a fault from the main section of the Hontomin structure.
Following drilling and logging at Hontomin-4, the rig will return to Italy to evaluate the company's Anagni-1 well. A workover rig and facilities of nearby Ayoluengo field will be used for the Hontomin tests.
Ascent said production from Hontomin, just as for Ayoluengo, can be readily transported to market by truck.
Ascent and Stockholm-based Tethys Oil AB each holds a 50% interest in Hontomin.
