Petro Matad has hit oil pay with the Heron-1 exploration well sunk on its Block XX in eastern Mongolia.
The probe, which was earlier stalled by land use issues after being spudded in July this year, encountered a 77-metre gross interval of potential oil reservoir after being drilled to a total depth of 2960 metres into the primary target in the Lower Tsagaantsav reservoir, the London-listed company said in a statement.
It stated the reservoir interval, which included both oil and gas shows, was “very similar” to productive reservoirs found in wells at the T19-46 oilfield immediately to the north in PetroChina-operated Block XIX in the landlocked East Asian country. The well, which was drilled as an appraisal to the latter oilfield, had a pre-drill resource estimate of 25 million barrels of mean prospective recoverable resources. Casing of the well is now being carried out ahead of a testing effort that is likely to require a further rig to be brought in.
Petro Matad chief executive Mike Buck said the test is aimed at delivering commercial oil flow rates so the company can move into the exploitation phase at the discovery once its exploration licence on the tract expires in July 2020.
“We have already been in dialogue with PetroChina with a view to using its existing field infrastructure to develop the find so that we can move into early production, contingent on commercial flows,” Buck told Upstream.
He added that commercialising the discovery would enable it to retain the block so that it could continue to appraise further possible finds on the acreage. The well was drilled by DQE International’s rig 40105 that will now suspend it and then be mobilised to drill the Gazelle-1 hole in the same block, one of three Mongolia tracts wholly owned and operated by Petro Matad. The Gazelle prospect lies roughly five kilometres west of Heron-1 and has been estimated to hold mean recoverable prospective resource potential of 13 million barrels.
Petro Matad aims to spud the Gazelle-1 well by the end of September targeting a structure that is on trend with a pair of oilfields operated by PetroChina to the north, with a 50% to 65% chance of success for the probe, according to Buck. The company is meantime also drilling the Red
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
