Max Petroleum announces positive drilling results at Kazakh fields
By Aynur Jafarova
Max Petroleum Plc, a British oil and gas exploration and production company, has announced successful drilling results with appraisal wells in Kazakhstan's Eskene North and Uytas fields.
"The ESKN-2 appraisal well in the Eskene North field has reached a depth of 1,523 meters with electric logs indicating 29 meters of net pay over a 173 meter gross interval in the Triassic Formation at measured depths between 1,222 and 1,395 meters. Reservoir quality is fair with porosities ranging from 15 to 20 percent," the company said on October 4.
Max Petroleum is setting production casing in the well and will begin testing ESKN-2 as soon as practicable.
The company said further that in the Uytas field, the UTS-12 appraisal well successfully reached a total depth of 450 meters, with electric logs indicating seven meters of net oil pay in Cretaceous and Jurassic reservoirs, including two meters of net oil pay over a four meter interval ranging in depths from 119 to 123 meters in the Cretaceous Aptian formation, two meters of net oil pay ranging in depths from 245 to 247 meters in the Lower Cretaceous formation and three meters of net oil pay over a seven meter interval ranging in depths from 311 to 318 meters in the Jurassic section.
"Reservoir quality is excellent. Hydrocarbon shows were not encountered in the shallow Albian section," the company said.
Max Petroleum plans to complete the well and place it on test production as soon as practicable. Moreover, the company will now drill the UTS-9 well targeting Jurassic reservoirs with a total vertical depth of about 550 meters. After UTS-9, an additional five wells remain to be drilled as part of the initial appraisal program in the Uytas field.
After completion of ESKN-2, Max Petroleum will release the Zhanros ZJ-20 rig with the expectation to bring another shallow drilling rig into operation in early 2014 after the company has finished interpreting its newly acquired 3D seismic survey over East Kyzylzhar I and analyzing recent drilling results at Eskene North and Baichonas West.
The company will proceed with its ongoing appraisal programs at the Sagiz West and Uytas fields with the two remaining shallow rigs under the contract, and does not anticipate the release of the rig to impact its ability to drill up to 35 shallow wells during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014 as currently planned.
Max Petroleum is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Kazakhstan. The company holds a 100 percent interest in the Blocks A and E license area covering over 12,455 square kilometers in the highly prolific Pre-Caspian Basin in Western Kazakhstan.
Since September 2006, Max Petroleum has drilled 76 wells in its Blocks A and E license area, including 26 exploration wells generating eight commercial discoveries at the Zhana Makat, Borkyldakty, Uytas, Asanketken, East Kyzylzhar I, Sagiz West, Baichonas West and Eskene North fields.