Apache builds Egypt Western Desert capacity

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 3 – Apache Corp. reported a string of oil and gas-condensate completions including a new field discovery on its concessions in Egypt’s Western Desert.

The Falcon-1x discovery on the Matruh concession tested 4,400 b/d of oil from the Cretaceous Alam El Buieb-3D formation. Located 7.5 miles east of Jade field and 2.4 miles south of the recent Adam discovery, Falcon is expected to go on production in the current quarter.

The Falcon well also found hydrocarbon pay zones in the Alam El Buieb-6 and Jurassic Safa formations that won’t be produced until more processing and transportation capacity is developed. A 52-ft Upper Safa interval made 11 MMcfd of gas and 415 b/d of condensate, and the AEB-6 tested 35 MMcfd of gas and 1,953 b/d of condensate.

Apache plans to drill an appraisal well before the end of 2009.

In the Shushan concession 37 miles west of Falcon, the Hydra-5x appraisal well tested 21 MMcfd of gas and 3,744 b/d of condensate from Upper Safa. This well, 1.3 miles south of the Hydra 1x discovery well, extended the area of known pay in the Lower Safa and AEB-6 reservoirs and also encountered several well-developed hydrocarbon-bearing intervals in Upper Safa.

Hydra-1x, drilled in 2008, test-flowed 42 MMcfd of gas and 1,313 b/d of condensate from Lower Safa. Apache will develop the field after completing a gas sales agreement with Egyptian General Petroleum Corp.

Apache also ramped up production through two new trains at the Salam gas processing plant and expects to reach gross production capacity of 200 MMcfd and 10,000 b/d of condensate in the third quarter of 2009 (OGJ, Aug. 11, 2008, Newsletter).