Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 33 2021

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Challenger Energy reports on Perseverance-1 well
AIM-listed Challenger Energy, the Caribbean and Atlantic margin focused oil and gas com- pany, with production, appraisal, development and exploration assets across the region, has provided the following update in relation to its operations in The Bahamas.
Legal Proceedings: In December 2020, var- ious parties in The Bahamas brought an action for judicial review against the Government of The Bahamas in an attempt to stop the drilling of Perseverance-1. The Company was ultimately added as a party to that action, and successfully defended the action such that Perseverance-1 drilling was able to proceed. Perseverance-1 was subsequently drilled with no safety or envi- ronmental incidents but, notwithstanding the completion of drilling, the applicants contin- ued with their action. Consequently, the appli- cants were ordered by the Court to post security for the Company’s costs. The applicants had appealed that decision, although on July 8, 2021, that appeal was withdrawn, and the applicants have now withdrawn from the action entirely. Consent Orders to this effect have been agreed between the applicants, the Company and The Government, and were endorsed by the Court on August 13, 2021, so the matter has now ended.
Perseverance-1 Key Technical Findings: On completion of the drilling of the Perseverance-1 well, the Company had indicated that a techni- cal “debrief ” would be provided for sharehold- ers’ information once the post-well analysis had been sufficiently advanced. The Company expects to be able to post this report to its website during September 2021, once appropriate prior notices to, and engagement with, the Govern- ment of The Bahamas has occurred. However, at this stage the following key highlights/learnings from the drilling of the Perseverance-1 well are noted:
The Perseverance-1 well was drilled in the period between December 20, 2020, to February 5, 2021, in the territorial waters of The Bahamas, at a location approximately 20 miles (32 km) from the Bahamas-Cuba maritime border, in water approximately 518 metres deep. Persever- ance-1 represented the first exploration drilling in The Bahamas since the mid-1980s, and the first test of any prospect located in deeper waters off the shallower water carbonate banks.
Perseverance-1 reached total depth of 3,905 metres, having intersected five Albian, Upper Aptian, and Mid-Aptian horizons of interest. Post-drill analysis of the well has confirmed the geological risk elements for trap, seal and reservoir were present in the Lower Cretaceous
carbonate play. Perseverance encountered high quality reservoirs in the targeted Lower Creta- ceous carbonate closures, with thick sequences of evaporites providing effective seals. Depth and thicknesses of reservoir sections encoun- tered were generally as prognosed pre-drill, and reservoir porosity was likewise generally in line with pre-drill expectations (in the range of 10% to 20%).
The presence of hydrocarbons was encoun- tered at various horizons, indicated by elevated gas chromatography readings detected contin- ually during drilling, generally increasing with depth and through the deeper Aptian reservoir column in particular. Oil was identified from high oil saturation values from logs in a number of reservoir sections, thus verifying the exist- ence of a working Lower Cretaceous petroleum system and reservoir quality sequences in the Aptian.
Drilling execution using modern technology, revised casing plan, hybrid bits and bottom hole assembly design optimised the achieved rate of penetration. Mud plans and formulation were successful in the primary aim of averting the consistent lost circulation issues experienced in previous wells in The Bahamas.
Although hydrocarbons were present, these were not in commercial quantities, with the source quality and migration interpreted as being the primary reason for this non-commer- cial well outcome.
Petrophysical analysis of the well logs have confirmed high quality reservoirs down to the base of the well with no significant deterioration in porosity with depth, indicating the potential for high deliverability reservoirs in the underly- ing Jurassic formations.
In aggregate, the analysis of the data from Perseverance-1 drilling is broadly indicative of increased potential for oil in the underlying Jurassic interval (which was not penetrated by Perseverance-1). In particular, the relatively cool well temperatures place the postulated Jurassic source rock (producing in nearby Cuba and the US Gulf of Mexico) in the oil window, thus oil-generative.
Ultimately, the technical findings from Per- severance-1 thus support a forward programme to include further biostratigraphic analysis, fluid
inclusion analysis, and selective re-processing of 3D seismic to further educate sequence stratig- raphy and seismo-facies of the deeper Jurassic horizons. This work will underpin an assessment of the merits of a further exploration well in the future, both to continue to assess Aptian horizon potential, whilst at the same time targeting the deeper Jurassic intervals.
Bahamas Petroleum Co., August 16 2021
ANP OKs co-participation agreement for Búzios field
Petrobras, following up on the release disclosed on June 11, 2021, informs that the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (ANP) today approved the Búzios co-participa- tion agreement, which will regulate the coexist- ence of the Transfer of Rights Agreement and the Production Sharing Contract of the Transfer of Rights Surplus for the Búzios field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt.
After production and tax estimates adjust- ments, the total amount of compensation that the Production-Sharing Contract parties owe to the Transfer of Rights Agreement party (100% Petrobras) was updated to $29.0bn, which will be recovered as Cost Oil by the contractors.
Thus, the receipt by Petrobras of the portion of the partners CNODC Brasil Petróleo e Gás Ltda. (CNODC) and CNOOC Petroleum Bra- sil Ltda. (CNOOC) of the compensation, in the amount of $2.9bn, should occur until the end of this month, so that the Agreement is effective on September 1, 2021.
With the effective start of the Agreement, the participation in the Búzios shared reservoir, including the portion of the BS-500 concession contract (100% Petrobras), will be 92.6594% for Petrobras and 3.6703% for each of the partners, already considering the adjustment in the pro- duction estimate.
Petrobras, August 12 2021
MIDSTREAM
Petrobras comments on
scheduled stoppage of
Mexilhão and Route 1
Petrobras, following up the release disclosed on June 4, 2021, informs that the scheduled stop- page of 30 days for maintenance of the Mexilhão platform and the Route 1 gas pipeline, which transports the natural gas produced in Mexilhão and other platforms in the pre-salt and post-salt areas of the Santos Basin, will be postponed by 14 days, to August 29, 2021.
Week 33 19•August•2021
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