Petromanas Energy Inc., Calgary, said it has drilled the Shpirag-2 well in Albania’s Berati thrust belt to 4,230 m in the flysch shale and expects to encounter the target carbonate at about 5,000 m.
After setting casing to 3,414 m and reaching a depth of 4,465 m, the well experienced instability resulting in a sidetrack. With recent tectonic activity in the area affecting the stability of the flysch shale, the company is evaluating options including the optimal depth to set casing to put the unstable zone behind pipe.
Petromanas plans to penetrate 1,100 m of carbonate to reach a target depth of 6,100 m sometime in late 2012 or early 2013. Tests will follow.
Geotec SPA is shooting a test line to determine final shot parameters for the planned program of 400-500 line-km of 2D seismic to be completed in 2013 on blocks 2 and 3. Under the terms of the Petromanas farmout agreement with Royal Dutch Shell plc, Shell will carry the first $20 million of the seismic program with any excess amount shared equally by both parties.
Petromanas has spudded the 100% owned Juban-1 well on Block A and plans to drill to 2,600 m in 30 days at a cost of $9 million. The company’s shallowest prospect, Juban will enable Petromanas to begin assessing the potential of the carbonates in northern Albania outside areas of current production.
Petromanas is awaiting Albanian government approval of an extension to Dec. 25, 2013, to complete its obligations on blocks D and E. The company will use data from Shpirag and Juban to determine how best to meet its commitments for the extension period. Petromanas considers the blocks to be of higher risk than blocks 2 and 3 and relatively costly to explore based on the lower prospective resource volumes allocated to the Papri prospect.