E&D operations increasing off South Africa

Exploration and development operations are building off South Africa.

Soekor E&P (Pty.) Ltd., Cape Town, and Pioneer Natural Resources Co., Dallas, hope to start oil production in mid-2000 from the previously discovered E-BD/E-CE oil, gas, and condensate field complex on Block 9 about 150 km south-southwest of Mossel Bay.

Current plan calls for use of a floating production, storage, and offloading facility. The field complex is about 12 miles west-northwest of Soekor's Oribi, formerly E-BT, oil field.

Preliminary estimate of oil reserves for E-BD/E-CE is 25-35 million bbl. The fields are in the Bredasdorp basin off South Africa's south coast (OGJ, Dec. 21, 1992, p. 109).

Meanwhile, an affiliate of Anschutz Overseas Corp., Denver, won rights to Block 2A in the Orange basin off South Africa's west coast.

Soekor-Pioneer plans

The Soekor operated E-BD4 appraisal well on Block 9 cut about 95 ft of gross pay at 8,552 ft, of which only the uppermost 30 ft was perforated.

It flowed at a rate of 4,534 b/d of 39° gravity oil and 3.1 MMcfd of gas on a 3/4 in. choke on a 36 hr test. Drilled in 328 ft of water, it was suspended pending field development.

Pioneer's first well in South Africa, E-BD3, flowed 5,980 b/d of oil and 3.6 MMcfd of gas. The E-BD1 flowed 8,525 b/d of oil and 5.2 MMcfd of gas. The differences in test rates are attributed to the varying thickness of tested intervals and varying choke sizes, Pioneer said.

The E-CE part of the field complex consists mainly of a deeper sandstone than at E-BD. The E-CE1 discovery well flowed 6,021 b/d of oil and 7.5 MMcfd of gas from an oil-bearing zone and 10.5 MMcfd of gas and 1,466 b/d of liquids and condensate from the directly overlying gas cap.

The E-CE2 appraisal well cut a thin, oil-bearing interval and was not tested. The E-CE3, flowed from the gas cap at a rate of 4,271 b/d of liquids and condensate and 25.3 MMcfd of gas.

Pioneer's interests are 35% in E-BD and 25% in E-CE.

E-BD/E-CE share a number of significant geologic and reservoir similarities with Oribi field, Pioneer noted. They lie in a 500,000 acre Soekor-operated area on Block 9 that contains a number of other unappraised or undeveloped oil and gas discoveries and significant exploration opportunities.

Pioneer will operate the F-Q and E-P Tracts on Block 9 as well as Block 7 to the west and blocks 10-15B adjacent to shore between Mossel Bay and Port Elizabeth. These areas cover about 13 million acres and are largely characterized by trap types, source rocks, reservoirs, and seals similar to those responsible for oil and gas production in Block 9.

Anschutz Orange basin block

Block 2A extends from shore to the median line with Namibia and lies between 30° and 31° S. Lat. Water depths reach nearly 2,000 m.

Undeveloped Kudu gas field off Namibia is about 150 km north of Block 2A's seaward edge.

The sub-lease agreement gives Anschutz South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. an initial 30 months to explore for oil and gas, followed by conditional renewal periods of 30, 24, and 12 months, respectively.

The company is to reprocess at least 3,500 km of existing data and acquire 2D and 3D seismic data. Each renewal period requires Anschutz to drill two wildcats.

Anschutz agreed not to explore in the area of the proposed West Coast Marine Reserve.

Soekor records show that about 30 boreholes have been drilled in South African Orange basin waters since 1974, perhaps a third of them on Block 2A. Of the 30, half encountered some form of hydrocarbons. Two had potentially commercial gas and condensate flows, and one is an oil well with encouraging oil shows (OGJ, Jan. 25, 1993, p. 106).