- The US oil and gas company Apache today announced it had made a new gas discovery in the Qasr-3X well in the Khalda area of Egypt, terming it "448 feet of net pay." Three wells at the company's Khalda concession now have encountered "very large hydrocarbon columns," according to Apache.
- The Qasr-3X, which was drilled 2.1 kilometres north-west of our Qasr-2X well and approximately 3.5 kilometres west-north-west of our Qasr-1X discovery, came in as predicted from our seismically defined structure map, Apache President Steven Farris said in a press release issued today.
The Qasr-3X had encountered 448 feet of net gas the Jurassic Lower Safa formation with the same gas/water contact seen in the first two Qasr wells.
- With three wells now having encountered very large hydrocarbon columns, we are able to more fully confirm our original estimate of ultimate recoverable reserves in the range of 1 trillion to 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 20 million to 60 million barrels of condensate, Mr Farris said.
Based on what he called an "excellent log correlation of the -3X to the two previous wells drilled," no further testing of the well was scheduled at this time. Three additional Jurassic delineation wells and at least one shallower Alam El Bueb Cretaceous well at Qasr however were planned this year, the company disclosed.
Facilities design and procurement are under way to develop an extensive pipeline system from Qasr, according to the Apache statement. The field is to be linked to a gas supply hub at Apache's Shams gas field with the ability to transport gas to three existing gas processing plants, two of which are operated by Apache's Khalda Petroleum Company joint venture.
The Qasr-1X discovery well, completed in July 2003, had tested at a daily rate of 51.8 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas and 2,688 barrels of condensate from two zones, according to the US company. "The well logged 606 feet of net pay in a 670-foot gross hydrocarbon column," Apache says.
- Qasr-2X test-flowed 35.4 MMcf of gas and 1,320 barrels of condensate per day last December from 70 feet of perforations at the base of its 707-foot gross hydrocarbon column containing 669 feet of net pay, the company adds. The Qasr-2X is currently producing down a six-inch line to the Salam Plant at a restricted rate of 10 MMcf of gas and 400 barrels of condensate per day.
Following the successful Qasr-2X appraisal well, the Egyptian government had granted a 62,000-acre development lease. Since that, the company had found additional gas reservoirs at shallower depths of the Qasr-2X in the AEB sands that produce oil. Additionally, Apache had found oil at the Qasr-7X well.
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