Turkey awarded Anatolia Energy Corp., Calgary, and Calik Enerji San. Ve Tic. AS three contiguous licenses that total 366,990 gross acres prospective for the Silurian Dadas shale in southeastern Turkey.
The three new licenses in the Gaziantep District are adjacent to the existing Antep block in which Anatolia can earn a 50% interest. They expand Anatolia’s position in the Antep block to 845,418 gross acres and cover what the company believes to be the entire extent of prospective shale acreage in the Antep basin.
Anatolia has identified an expansive area of prospective Dadas shale and a large portfolio of prospects in the Ordovician Bedinan sand and the Cretaceous Mardin carbonates in the Antep area.
Anatolia and its partner expect to spud the first well at Antep in August 2012. The well will be drilled on the original Antep licenses to 2,600 m to test both the Dadas shale and the underlying conventional Bedinan sand. A core will be cut in the shale, and hydraulic fracture stimulation is planned to obtain critical data from the shale reservoir to aid in horizontal well and fracture stimulation design.
