By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 13 -- Sufficient recoverable oil has been discovered in Uganda's Albert basin to exceed the commercial threshold for development, said Heritage Oil Corp., Calgary.
The advance came with a discovery at Giraffe, structurally connected to the Buffalo discovery announced in December 2008.
The Buffalo-Giraffe complex is mapped at 18.5 sq miles with more than 400 million bbl recoverable. If it extends farther north and east and includes the Buffalo East prospect, the structure could cover nearly 35 sq miles, Heritage said.
The Giraffe discovery on Block 1 went to TD 705 m and cut a gross oil-bearing interval of 89 m with 38 m of net oil pay.
"Downhole pressure testing and sampling have confirmed the presence of movable oil that was recovered to surface and log interpretation indicates excellent reservoir quality with porosities of up to 30%," Heritage said.
The combined Buffalo-Giraffe complex has an oil column of 140 m.
Block 1 contains numerous other prospects and leads mapped from more than 600 line-km of seismic data shot in the past 18 months, and the block could hold "additional substantial quantities of oil," Heritage said. "All these prospects and leads are characterized by similarly encouraging seismic amplitude anomalies as those seen over the successful Warthog, Buffalo, and Giraffe discoveries."
Heritage suspended Giraffe as a future production well and plans more drilling on Block 1 this year.
Heritage is operator of blocks 3A and 1 with 50% equity interest, and Tullow Oil PLC has the other 50%.
