Page 12 - LatAmOil Week 12 2021

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Maha Energy notes potential

productive zone in Tie-3 well

SWEDEN’S Maha Energy has said that electric available data, as it completes the well, the state-
logging data from an exploration well drilled at ment said.
the onshore Tie field in the Reconcavo Basin, Maha spudded Tie-3 last December and
Brazil may reveal a new oil-bearing formation. initially hoped to finish the well in early 2021.
In a statement dated March 21, Maha However, drilling progressed more slowly than
reported that it had drilled Tie-3 to a measured anticipated, partly because of poor conditions
depth (MD) of 2,336 metres. Electric logging within the hole and partly because the compa-
indicates that the well contains 11 metres of ny’s rig required extensive repairs.
net pay within the Agua Grande formation, 3.1 Despite these delays, the company is satisfied
metres of net pay within the lower section of the with the outcome of the drilling programme,
Itaparica formation and 1.6 metres of net pay in said Jonas Lindvall, Maha’s CEO. “Structurally,
the Sergi formation. It described Itaparica as “a the Tie-3 well came in exactly how we planned
new potentially productive zone.” it,” he said. “What appears to be a new oil pro-
The company went on to say that it had ductive transitional zone at the base of the
already installed flowlines to handle future pro- Itaparica and the top of the Sergi is very encour-
duction from Tie-3. It also stressed, though, that aging and is something we have not seen in any
it was not yet in a position to say how the discov- of the other Tie wells. The Tie-3 well will even-
ery of oil-bearing rock near the bottom of Ita- tually be turned into a flank water injector, but
parica would affect its estimate of Tie’s reserves. right now it will be completed and placed on
The company will now continue to evaluate all production.” ™

ARGENTINA
YPF to invest $1.5bn in Vaca Muerta in 2021

ARGENTINA’S national oil company (NOC) spend $1.5bn on oil development and $600mn
YPF has rolled out plans to invest $1.5bn in Vaca on gas development this year, he explained.
Muerta, one of the world’s largest shale basins. Some of the money will cover the cost of
Pablo Gonzalez, the chairman of the com- drilling programmes at three fields that YPF is
pany, said during a visit to Neuquen Province developing in co-operation with foreign part-
last week that he hoped the funds would help ners, he indicated.
YPF push unconventional oil and gas output Some 90 wells are due to be drilled this year
upwards from 2020 levels. The investment is at Amarga Chica (operated by Malaysia’s Pet-
expected to “translate into a significant increase ronas), Bandurria Sur (operated by Norway’s
in oil and gas production,” he was quoted as say- Equinor and the Anglo-Dutch super-major
ing in a company statement. Royal Dutch Shell) and Loma Campana (oper-
The chairman did not provide a full break- ated by Chevron of the US), he said. The new
down of YPF’s investment plans. According to wells will help bring yields at these three fields
the statement, though, the NOC aims to increase up to 53,000 bpd by the end of 2021, up by nearly
shale oil production by 56% and for shale gas 61% on the year-ago figure of 33,000 bpd, he
production to rise by 70% year on year in 2021. added.
Gonzalez’s remarks are in line with state- YPF spent just $1.55bn on capex projects last
ments made earlier this month by Sergio year, so it hopes that putting more money into
Affronti, the CEO of YPF. Affronti told inves- Vaca Muerta projects will help it reverse last
tors during a conference call earlier this month year’s decline in yields. The company extracted
that the company was looking to raise its total around 208,000 bpd of oil and 35mn cubic
investment budget for capital expenditures to metres per day of gas in 2020, down by 9.2% on
$2.7bn in 2021. the figure posted the year before. Its output looks
The NOC sees raising output as its pri- set to remain steady at these levels in the first half
mary goal, so it will devote 80% of this sum to of 2021, but it is anticipated to start rising after
upstream projects, he added. YPF intends to mid-year. ™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 12 25•March•2021