Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 46 2021

LatAmOil SURINAME LatAmOil

These reserves are not large enough to support If Krabdagoe turns out to contain oil, it said,
a stand-alone project, the company noted. “The APA and TotalEnergies may seek to establish a
aerial extent of this pay zone is not sufficient to production hub that can support development
support a commercial development, and the operations at Krabdagoe, Sapakara and Keskesi.
well will be plugged and abandoned,” it said. John J. Christman IV, the president and CEO
Bonboni-1 was drilled at a site near the of APA, expressed satisfaction with the outcome
northern edge of Block 58. The Bonboni field of flow testing at Sapakara South-1. “We are
does not lie along the same trend line as the very pleased with the flow test results,” he said.
other discoveries made within the licence area “The data we’ve collected confirms an excellent
– Maka Central, Sapakara West, Kwaskwasi, quality black oil reservoir, which we believe will
Keskesi and Sapakara South. serve as a foundation for a development pro-
APA also said on November 16 that it had ject in Suriname. The high permeability of the
finished flow testing at the Sapakara South-1 oil-bearing sand and its thick and consistent
appraisal well, which was completed earlier this quality indicate strong well deliverability and,
year. In its statement, it reported that the well importantly, high recovery factors.”
had yielded an average of 4,800 barrels per day Meanwhile, Tracey K. Henderson, APA’s sen-
(bpd) over a period of 48 hours during restricted ior vice-president for exploration, commented:
flow testing. “Without flow restrictions, a devel- “The results at Bonboni extend the proven
opment well would produce at a significantly petroleum system to the northern bound-
higher sustained rate,” it noted. ary of Block 58, confirming the presence of
The company went on to say that Sapakara high-quality reservoir sands and the generation
South appeared to hold 325-375mn barrels of and migration of black oil. With the critical ele-
crude oil with a specific gravity of 34 degrees ments of reservoir and charge now proven, our
API within a single reservoir. “Seismic imaging focus turns to integrating well data to prioritise
of this Sapakara reservoir supports substan- the numerous exploration prospects we have
tially more potential resource, which could be mapped in both Blocks 58 and 53.”
proved through additional appraisal drilling,” it Block 58 covers an area of about 1.4mn acres
commented. (5,670 square km) within Suriname’s offshore
The next drilling target at Block 58 will be zone. Equity in the project is split 50:50 between
Krabdagoe, which lies about 18 km east of Sapa- TotalEnergies and Apache, and the French
kara South, APA said. It noted that this explora- major serves as operator.
tion prospect had a seismic signature that was The partners have indicated that they may
similar to the wells drilled at Sapakara West and be able to launch development operations at the
Sapakara, as well as the discovery at Keskesi. block as early as 2025. ™

ECUADOR
Bermeo says Ecuador’s oil output

will top 500,000 bpd by year-end

ECUADOR’S Energy Minister Juan Carlos Ber-
meo has said that the country is on track to see
oil production top 500,000 barrels per day (bpd)
by the end of 2021.
Speaking to reporters on November 18,
Bermeo noted that crude output was set to rise
above the current level of 485,000 bpd of oil as a
result of the extensive drilling campaigns under-
taken by the national oil company (NOC) Petro-
ecuador and privately owned operators. “We are
trying to add the largest amount of production
to close this year with a [rate] of over 500,000 Bermeo (centre) sees oil output rising (Photo: Twitter/@JuanCar_Bermeo)
[bpd],” he stated.
He did not say whether he expected pro- majority of the country’s crude output.
duction to continue growing at comparable President Guillermo Lasso, who took office
rates over the next few years. Nor did he reveal earlier this year, has declared that he hopes to
how much of the increase could be attributed push Ecuador’s oil yields up to 1mn bpd by 2025,
to Petroecuador, which accounts for the vast the year of the next presidential election.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 18•November•2021