Gulfsands presses exploration of Syria Block 26
By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 9 -- Gulfsands Petroleum PLC is pressing seismic and exploratory drilling on Block 26 in northeastern Syria, where Khurbet East and Yousefieh fields have produced 10.75 million bbl of oil and average 20,000 b/d of oil with negligible water.
Gulfsands is operator with 50% working interest in the block, of which it relinquished 25% to a contiguous 5,414 sq km. License term is extended until August 2012.
Gulfsands has expanded the 2010 3D seismic program to 1,020 sq km. Shooting has begun on a prospective region west of the Greater Khurbet East survey area. The data will be used to identify new leads and prospects for drilling in 2011 and 2012. Delivery of processed data is expected in the first quarter of 2011.
The rig has spudded the Yousefieh South-1 exploratory well 2 km south of Yousefieh field to target an objective similar to the field’s producing reservoir. The prospect’s unrisked gross speculative resource is 9-15 million bbl. The rig will then return to drill the vertical Khurbet East-18 delineation well.
The horizontal Yousefieh-4H, the field’s third development well 500 m north of the discovery well, encountered the Cretaceous Massive formation at 2,068 m measured depth, 1,543 m true vertical depth below mean sea level. A gross horizontal reservoir section of 718 m was drilled easterly across the Yousefieh structure, with an average net reservoir pay section being assessed from formation logging as 710 m, average porosity 17.9%, and average oil saturation 86.5%.
The gross horizontal reservoir section drilled was a company record, exceeding that of 311 m previously achieved at Khurbet East-5H. Assessment of reservoir facies along hole via the running of a formation imaging logging tool suggests that the Yousefieh structure is of increased vertical thickness to the east than previously understood from the evaluation of seismic data.
The well is to be flow-tested in late September, followed by a fieldwide pressure survey to further assess the extent of the resource. Tie-in of the well appears to have the capability to greatly increase daily production from the field, Gulfsands said.
Syria Block 26 encompasses existing fields that produce more than 100,000 b/d of oil and are operated mainly by Syrian Petroleum Co. Gulfsands’ working interest proved and probable reserves in Syria were 46 million bbl at Dec. 31, 2009.