Tethys Petroleum: Drilling Commences on AKD08 Exploration Well
Tethys Petroleum Limited, the E&P Company focused on Central Asia and the Caspian Region, announces that it has commenced drilling of the AKD08 Exploration well in Kazakhstan.
The AKD08 Exploration well is located to the south-west of the Company’s producing Doris field and north of its Dione oil discovery in Kazakhstan. The well is designed to target several potential zones, including the Lower Cretaceous sandstone and Upper Jurassic carbonate sequences as proven in Doris, and also the deeper Triassic sequence which gave significant hydrocarbon shows in nearby wells, including the Company’s AKD01 well (Doris oil discovery). Prospectivity may also exist in the Jurassic sandstone sequence which flowed oil in the Dione (AKD03) well.
The Doto prospect has 22 million barrels gross mean unrisked recoverable prospective oil resources attributed to it (Gustavson & Associates, April 30, 2012) in the Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic sequences. The deeper Triassic sequence has not yet been independently assessed, and as such the Company is currently unable to quote a reportable resource estimate for this horizon. However, the Company believes it to be an attractive prospect.
The Doto well is expected to take approximately 70 days to drill to a planned total depth of 3,500 metres using Tethys’ own ZJ70 “Telesto” rig.
The AKD09 Exploration well is now expected to commence drilling in mid October due to a minor delay in mobilisation of equipment and integration of services with the Doto well.
Graham Wall, Chief Operating Officer of Tethys, commented, “We are very pleased to have started drilling on the Doto well commencing our exciting drilling programme in Kazakhstan. The Doto well is targeting several zones which have been either commercially proven or shown to be promising on adjacent structures. The timing of the Dexa Exploration well is being co-ordinated with the drilling of the Doto well in order to optimise resources, thereby reducing costs.”
The references in this press release to “prospective resources” means those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of April 30, 2012, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects. Prospective resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance of development. There is no certainty that any portion of these resources will be discovered. If discovered, there is no certainty that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of these resources.
Source: www.tethyspetroleum.com
