Within the total maximum aggregate number of 24,000 bopd, flow rates of about 4,500 bopd have been achieved in a new zone in the Jurassic Upper Sargelu, previously untested by the Company, and producible oil has been established in the Cretaceous Chia Gara for the first time, albeit at relatively low rates (130 bopd).
Following the conclusion of the Shaikan-4 well testing programme, the well is being completed as a producer and will be tied to the Shaikan-1 and Shaikan-3 Extended Well Test facility.
The Discoverer-4 rig will move to the drilling location of the Sheikh Adi-2 exploration well, north of the Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well, which is expected to spud in June 2012.
Gulf Keystone is the Operator of the Shaikan block with a working interest of 75 per cent and is partnered with Kalegran Ltd. (a 100 per cent subsidiary of MOL Hungarian Oil and Gas Plc.) and Texas Keystone Inc., which have working interests of 20 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
John Gerstenlauer (pictured), Gulf Keystone's Chief Operating Officer commented:
"Shaikan-4 is our best well drilled to date in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in terms of the total net pay. These results are particularly impressive because we decided to focus most of our testing on multiple zones of the reservoir, which looked marginal on the well logs. This was done in order to assess the actual log properties required to have a viable producing interval. We have been pleasantly surprised by achieving good flow rates in a new zone in the Upper Sargelu in the Jurassic and finding producible oil in the Chia Gara in the Cretaceous for the first time. In addition, we have more than doubled our initial flow rates in the tested Sargelu interval to over 14,000 bopd following its acidization and retest.
"The total maximum aggregate flow rates of 24,000 bopd are very significant for Gulf Keystone as we look forward to completing our appraisal of this massive structure with the Shaikan-5 and Shaikan-6 wells and gradually increasing our test production volumes from Shaikan to above 10,000 bopd in 2012. Clearly, Shaikan-4 is another important step forward toward achieving our goal of fully realizing the potential of the giant Shaikan discovery."
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