Tawke horizontal oil well tests 32,500 b/d in Iraq

Oct. 14, 2013
DNO International ASA, Oslo, has tested oil at a record rate of 32,500 b/d from its second horizontal well in Tawke field, Tawke-23, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, eclipsing the previous record rate of 25,000 b/d at the company’s first horizontal well, Tawke-20, 6 km distant.

DNO International ASA, Oslo, has tested oil at a record rate of 32,500 b/d from its second horizontal well in Tawke field, Tawke-23, in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, eclipsing the previous record rate of 25,000 b/d at the company’s first horizontal well, Tawke-20, 6 km distant.

DNO International has begun sales from the new well and is drilling two more horizontal Tawke wells that it expects to have completed by yearend.

Each of 10 independent fracture corridors penetrated by a 930-m horizontal section in the Cretaceous reservoir interval at Tawke-23 flowed in excess of 9,000 bb/d. The well cost $12 million to drill, complete, and test.

Both Tawke-23 and Tawke-20, completed last July, are subject to wellbore and surface facilities limitations, said DNO International Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani (OGJ Online, July 22, 2013).

“The exceptional results from Tawke-20 and Tawke-23 have fundamentally changed our approach to developing this field and also our expectations for its performance. By any measure, these are prolific wells tapping into what increasingly feels like a sea of oil,” he added.

DNO International, operator of the Tawke license with 55% interest, is drilling Tawke-21 and Tawke-22. Genel Energy PLC has a 25% interest in the license, and the Kurdistan Regional Government has 20%.