Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: South Central Desert in Upper Egypt, Egypt
Reserves: unknown
Area: 20,948 km2
Start-up Year: -
In 2010, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum has approved the deed of assignment which transfers a 60% net interest in the West Kom Ombo (WKO) block to Energean Oil & Gas (formerly Aegean Energy), which makes the company shareholder along with Groundstar Resources. This approval completes one of the main conditions of the Sale Agreement between the two companies announced in June 2010. Several additional conditions of the Sale agreement await approval by the appropriate authorities which is anticipated shortly. Groundstar has a 10% net carried interest in the block. Substantial progress has been achieved towards the objective of drilling the first exploration well on the block. An access road to the drilling site and the drill site pad have been completed. Casing and wellheads have been acquired. The drilling contract for two firm and two option wells has been awarded to Sino Tharwa Drilling Company. The exploration well will likely spud by the end of November. Energean Oil & Gas is launching a new US$6 million investment programme in Egypt, aiming to locate a hydrocarbon field in the West Kom Ombo block, which covers an area of 20,948 km2.
The new programme has been approved by Egypt’s petroleum authorities and it is based on the interpretation of the data obtained from the previous drilling of two wells, the 2D surface seismic survey of a range of 1500 kms, as well as aeromagnetic surveys. The investment programme includes aeromagnetic data re-interpretation, the acquisition of 2D 400-km seismic surveys and the drilling of two wells by June 2016. The West Kom Ombo block is located in the South Central Desert in Upper Egypt and has a geological structure similar to the neighbouring Al Baraka oil field, where international oil companies have been producing hydrocarbons for several years. Egypt has 4 billion oil barrels of proven reserves in total and is the greatest non-OPEC oil producing country in Africa. Energean Oil & Gas is the Operator and holds a 60% interest in the West Kom Ombo exploration and exploitation license.
The WKO block originally totalled 42,291 square kilometres (approx. 10.5 million acres). After the mandatory 25% relinquishment of the original area in September 2008, the block area is currently 31,520 square km. Groundstar originally had a 60% working interest. In late January 2009, Groundstar completed a 2D detailed seismic program over five previously identified structures on the WKO block. The contracted CGG-Ardiseis seismic crew acquired 27,999 VPs (700 kilometres). The data quality is significantly better than the legacy seismic previously acquired in the area. Two prospects and thirteen leads were originally confirmed after interpretation of the new seismic. Subsequently, in 2010, one of the leads (Lead A) was raised to prospect status. Groundstar contracted Gustavson Associates of Boulder, Colorado to undertake an independent NI51-101 compliant resource assessment of the block. Gustavson re-interpreted the re-processed Repsol seismic data and well results prior to the completion of the resource estimate calculations. It recognized the same five prospects mapped previously by Groundstar on the legacy seismic. The recoverable resources for the prospects were determined from a single Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoir. As the Lower Cretaceous is interpreted to be a thick sandstone/shale sequence, Gustavson states that multiple reservoir zones are possible as has been reported by the drilling results of the Centurion Al Baraka #2 appraisal well in the Al Baraka Field. In addition, no resources were assigned to the potential deeper structures demonstrated on the Repsol seismic sections.
Operators:
Energean Oil & Gas: Operator with 60% interest
Groundstar Resources: 10% interest
Other: 30% interest
Contractors:
CGG: Seismic survey using the CGG-Ardiseis seismic crew to acquired 27,999 VPs (700 kilometres).
Gustavson Associates: Contract to undertake an independent NI51-101 compliant resource assessment of the block
Sino Tharwa Drilling Company: Drilling contract for two firm and two option wells