Desire to sidetrack Rachel well in Falklands

Desire Petroleum PLC said its 14/15-1 well on the Rachel prospect in the remote North Falkland basin found thick, porous reservoir rock but no hydrocarbons and will be sidetracked.

Oct. 15, 2010

2 min read

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 15 – Desire Petroleum PLC said its 14/15-1 well on the Rachel prospect in the remote North Falkland basin found thick, porous reservoir rock but no hydrocarbons and will be sidetracked.

The well reached a total depth of 2,877 m and wireline logging shows a substantial thickness of sandstone in the upper part of the target zone. The well cut 103 m of gross sandstone, of which 81 m is net reservoir with an average porosity of 23%, the company said.

“The Rachel well has provided much new valuable data on the distribution of the reservoir targets within the Eastern Flank play and in particular the calibration of the 3D seismic data for sandstone prediction. Our understanding of this play type is rapidly evolving but one of the biggest remaining uncertainties relates to the oil charging mechanism from the mature oil source rock to the fan sandstones,” Desire said.

Based on the latest information from the Rachel well, potential sandstones have been identified downdip from the existing location, closer to the mature oil source rock, greatly reducing the oil charge risk. Desire will sidetrack to this location to evaluate the prospectivity as soon as logging is completed.

The TD of the sidetrack is planned to be 3,418 m measured depth, 2,970 m true vertical depth, with an offset of 1.2 km from the TD of the original vertical well. Designated 14/15-1Z, the sidetrack will take 20 days to drill.

Rachel is the first in a likely four-well drilling campaign operated by Desire. Following the sidetrack the next location is 25/5-1 on the Dawn/Jacinta prospect in the Desire 100% Tranche I license (see map, OGJ, May 17, 2010, p. 37).