Argentina: Madalena details Neuquen well operations

Madalena Ventures Inc., Calgary, has updated operating status on its Neuquen basin blocks in Argentina.

Initial flow tests of the Sierras Blancas formation in the CAN-5 development well on the northern part of the Coiron Amargo block averaged 370 b/d of oil equivalent, 85% oil, mainly on a 5/16-in. choke over a 3.2-day period. The well will be tied into the gas flowline network completed in April 2012 and oil production trucked to a nearby sales point.

The completion rig will move to test the CAN-7 development well on the CAN X-3 Sierras Blancas structure. CAN-7 is cased 10,390 ft total depth. It encountered the hydrocarbon-bearing Vaca Muerta shale formation and the conventional Sierras Blancas formation. Open hole logs could not be run while drilling due to continuous high pressure inflows during drilling the Vaca Muerta.

The rig is expected to return to the block in 2 months in order to continue drilling. The joint venture is continuing its analysis of full-diameter core from the CAS X-4 drilling location and its evaluation of several candidate wells for fracture stimulation in Vaca Muerta.

On the Curamhuele block, the service rig has been mobilized in order to prepare the Cur X-1 well for a three-stage fracture stimulation of the Lower Agrio shale. Several hundred barrels of light gravity crude have been flowed from the Lower Agrio in recent days to depressurize the well in order to perform prefrac well intervention. The frac treatment is to take place in July 2012.

On the Cortadera block, Apache continues to await specialized equipment required to test the initial frac stage in the CorS X-1 vertical exploratory well. Work to assess the uphole Quintuco, Mulichinco, and Agrio formations is expected to be carried out after the Vaca Muerta test.