Fifth Zohr Appraisal Well Confirms Resource Potential

Eni has proved the presence of a gas accumulation in the southwest part of the Zohr structure after drilling its fifth well, the company said Sept. 1 in a news release.

Drilled to a total depth of 144,350 meters (m), the Zohr 5x well encountered a continuous hydrocarbon column of about 180 m. The results confirm Zohr’s potential of 30 Tcf original gas in place.

Located 12 km southwest of the Zohr 1x discovery well and in a water depth of 1,538 m, the well also successfully tested opening 90 m of reservoir section to production, Eni said.

“The data collected during the test confirmed the great deliverability of the Zohr reservoir, in line with the Zohr 2 well test, producing more than 50 mmscfd limited only by the constraints of the drilling ship production facilities,” Eni said. “In the production configuration, the well is estimated to deliver up to 250 MMscf per day.”

The company plans to drill a sixth well later this year as it works toward first gas by year-end 2017. Eni is targeting a startup production rate of 1 Bcf/d.

Eni, through its subsidiary IEOC Production B.V., holds a 100% stake in the Shorouk Block, where Zohr is located.

Shell Makes Natural Gas Discoveries In Egypt

Royal Dutch Shell announced on Aug. 31 new natural gas discoveries in a concession area of north Alam El-Shawish in Egypt’s western desert.

The initial quantities discovered were estimated at about half a trillion cubic feet of gas with more possible reserves, Shell CEO Eden Murphy said in a statement.

The discovery could produce from 10 to 15% of the total production of Badr el-Din Petroleum company, which is a joint venture acting on behalf of the state-owned Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. and Shell in production operations, Murphy added.

Shell owns the license of the entire area, which includes the well. Badr el-Din is expected to manage the operations.

Schlumberger, ION Announce Campeche 3-D Reimaging Program

Schlumberger WesternGeco and ION Geophysical Corp. said Sept. 7 that the Campeche 3-D reimaging program, a new 3-D multiclient reimaging broadband program offshore southern Mexico, comprises three survey areas in the Bay of Campeche.

The program will be processed using a combination of custom technologies and techniques from both organizations that will maximize data quality and offer geological insights for upcoming licensing rounds.

The program is fully supported by industry funding. Fast-track data are available now for Round 1.4 deepwater bid preparation decisions.

The program uses Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) data library.

The complexity and variability of the geological areas being surveyed require a set of consistent, advanced workflows to maximize bandwidth, while producing data with strong low frequency content for subsalt areas and high-resolution data for non-salt areas of the basin.

CGG Forms JV For Seismic Services Offshore Ghana

France-based geoscience company CGG signed an agreement with Ghana’s GNPC Operating Services Co. Ltd. to form a joint venture (JV) company that will conduct high-end 2-D, 3-D and 4-D marine seismic acquisition and related services in the territorial waters of the Republic of Ghana.

The JV company, known as GOSCO Geoscience Ltd., will provide world-class seismic vessels and state-of-the-art marine seismic acquisition technologies and services to oil and gas companies operating in Ghana.

GOSCO Geoscience will be based in Accra, Ghana, according to a press release from Aug. 30.

—Staff & Reuters Reports

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