The Cohembi-11 appraisal well has been placed on production, and drilling has commenced from the same multi-well pad for the Cohembi-8 development location, Suroco Energy Inc. reported.

“The Cohembi-11 well is the first location drilled on older vintage 2D seismic and has now extended the oil-bearing area beyond what has been mapped on the more recent 3D seismic survey,” said Alastair Hill, the corporation’s president and CEO. “This well result has significantly increased the total oil column height in the Cohembi oilfield and importantly validates our 2D seismic mapping methodology, which has identified a number of Villeta N exploration targets in the Suroriente Block and on our exploration acreage elsewhere in the Putumayo basin.

“The drilling program will now re-focus within the area of 3D seismic coverage, first in the area around the Cohembi-1 well where water injection will commence in Q4 2012, and then on delineation of the highly prospective southern area of the field, where we believe the majority of the discovered oil in place is located,” Hill said.

The Cohembi-11 well was spudded on July 14, 2012 and drilled directionally to the west from the Cohembi-4 surface pad, approximately 1.2 km (0.7 miles) from the nearest bottomhole well location. The well reached a total depth of 2,811 m (9,223 ft) and encountered 2 m (5 ft) of oil pay with no indication of an oil-water contact.

The operation from spud to production was completed in 24 days, which is a record time for the Suroriente Block. These results have increased the proven vertical oil column in the Cohembi field by 16 m (54 ft) to a total of 45 m (148 ft), with no water contact encountered to date. It was subsequently cased and completed, and after initial cleanup is producing at a stabilized rate of approximately 240 b/d of 17 API gravity oil with zero percent watercut. The Cohembi-11 well is expected to continue production at this rate, and has effectively delineated the northwestern extent of the Cohembi oil field.

The drilling rig has now commenced drilling the third directional well from this multi-well pad, Cohembi-8, which is targeting a low-risk development location in between the existing Cohembi-4 and Cohembi-5 bottomhole locations. The rig will then drill two directional wells from the existing Cohembi-2 multi-well pad. These wells will fully develop the area around the Cohembi-1 well, which is scheduled for conversion to water injection in October 2012. Following the new Cohembi-2 pad locations, the rig will commence drilling southern area delineation wells from the planned multi-well pad at Cohembi-6.