Cooper Energy Ltd. has secured the jackup rig GPS Jupiter to drill the Hammamet West-3 well offshore Tunisia after reaching an agreement with Grup Servicii Petroliere SA.
Drilling is expected to begin in December 2012. However, this depends on when the rig is released from its previous commitments. It is possible that drilling won’t commence until the March 2013 quarter.
The Hammamet West oil discovery is located on a large anticlinal feature in the Bargou exploration permit in the Gulf of Hammamet, offshore Tunisia, in water depths of approximately 50 m (164 ft).
Two vertical wells have so far been drilled on the feature. Hammamet West-1 was drilled in 1967 and encountered oil fluorescence in the Tertiary Birsa Sands. Log interpretation indicates that 7 m (23 ft) of net oil pay is present in the Birsa, which was not tested. Hammamet West-2, drilled in 1990, recovered sub-commercial volumes of oil on test of the Late Cretaceous Abiod formation.
The results of the two wells indicate the presence of a gross oil column of at least 190 m (623 ft) in the Abiod formation within the West Hammamet structure.
Hammamet West-3 will be drilled to further assess the oil resource within the Abiod formation and will initially penetrate the reservoir with a slightly deviated pilot hole. A highly deviated wellbore will then be drilled and tested, to confirm the oil productivity of the Abiod formation. A secondary target in the Hammamet West-3 well is the Birsa sandstone.
The participants in the Bargou joint venture are Cooper Energy Bargou Ltd., operator, (30%), Dragon Oil (55%), and Jacka Tunisia Bargou Pty Ltd. (15%).
