GeoPark Holdings Ltd. said the Chercan-1 exploratory well gauged oil and gas on the Chilean Flamenco block, becoming the company’s first discovery in Tierra del Fuego.
GeoPark, operator of Chercan-1 with a 50% interest, said the well flowed at 35 b/d of oil and 4 MMcfd of gas with 1,800 psi wellhead pressure on an 8-mm choke on a production test of the Jurassic Tobifera formation at 1,920 m after stimulation. Total depth is 2,066 m. Chile’s state Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (Enap) owns the other 50% interest.
More production history is needed to determine stabilized flow rates, and the well is continuing to clean up. Efforts are under way to design and construct flowlines from the well to an existing pipeline. The Tobifera has produced in Argentine Tierra del Fuego (OGJ Online, Aug. 15, 2008).
Chercan-1 is the first of 21 exploratory wells to be drilled on the Flamenco, Campanario, and Isla Norte blocks in Chilean Tierra del Fuego as part of a $100 million investment program by GeoPark during the first exploration period. Two other wells, Omeling-1 and Yakamush-1, have been drilled on Flamenco and are to be tested in coming weeks.
About 1,200 sq km of 3D seismic have been collected on the three blocks out of a total committed 3D seismic program of 1,500 sq km.
In its partnership with Enap under the framework of the special operation contracts signed with the Chilean state, GeoPark operates and has a 50% working interest in the Flamenco and Campanario blocks and a 60% working interest in the Isla Norte block. Enap owns the remaining working interests in each block.
James F. Park, chief executive officer of GeoPark, expressed encouragement at the Chercan discovery and said the company is confident in the hydrocarbon potential of its Tierra del Fuego acreage, “which we believe will allow us to replicate the success of our properties nearby to the north across the Magellan Straits.”
