Tethys Petroleum Ltd. has provided a status report of its exploratory drilling, seismic, and shallow gas programs on and around the Akkulka block in the Caspian region of Kazakhstan.
The AKD08 Doto exploratory well, southwest of Doris field and north of the Dione oil discovery, is a potential gas discovery at the Tasaran stratigraphic level, having encountered high levels of gas shows while drilling at about 600 m. Tethys is running 13-3/8-in. casing at 1,368 m and plans to deepen the well to 3,500 m.
The Doto well targets several zones including the Lower Cretaceous sandstone and Upper Jurassic carbonate sequences as proven in Doris and the deeper Triassic sequence. The Tasaran proved commercial on tests in the nearby AKK15 and AKK15 wells.
Tethys plans to spud the AKD09 Dexa exploratory well on Oct. 26. Dexa will target Lower Cretaceous channel sandstone sequences similar to the current major producing unit in Doris field to the southeast. Planned total depth is 2,400 m.
Starting in December Tethys will attempt to complete the KBD01 Kalypso exploratory well with a comprehensive test program initially on the Permo-Carboniferous interval. The company will perforate, potentially acidize, and frac the carbonate interval at 4,100 m. Electric logs indicate more than 100 m of gross potential hydrocarbon-bearing zones in what are interpreted to be shelf limestones with hydrocarbon shows also being noted during drilling.
In early November a shallow gas exploratory program is expected to commence. These are relatively low-risk targets, and 11 of the last 13 shallow exploratory wells Tethys drilled on the Akkulka block tested commercial gas. The new wells will go to 600-800 m mainly in the central and southeastern part of the Akkulka exploration contract and relatively close to existing gas infrastructure and the Akkulka production contract area.
The latest 3D seismic program on the Akkulka block is over 78% complete with a planned 100 sq km of 3D data being acquired over further prospects identified northwest of Doris field and with similar Cretaceous reservoirs predicted. A further 35 line-km of 2D data has been shot and processed targeting other areas of interest in and around shallow producing Kyzyloi gas field. This is in addition to the 200 line-km of 2D seismic data recently shot and processed over the wider KulBas exploration area.
A program involving installation and optimization of artificial lift equipment and improvements in fluid handling has temporarily reduced oil production to 2,250 b/d. Tethys expects to resolve the mechanical issues within 10 days and return field output to 3,500 b/d.
Workover and test operations on the AKD03 well in Dione oil field well planned for the first quarter of 2014 are expected to add 500 b/d of oil subject to test results. AKD03 discovered oil in a Jurassic sandstone that consulting engineers estimated to have 4.25 million bbl of proved and probable reserves.
