Page 5 - LatAmOil Week 05 2022
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LatAmOil                                     COMMENTARY                                            LatAmOil


                         And at Canje, it struck out three times in a   northern section of their licence area. In the
                         row, making no discoveries at Bulletwood-1,   statement, they reported that they were set to
                         Jabillo-1 or Sapote-1.               spud their second exploration well, in line with
                                                              the requirements of their contract, at a nearby
                         Announcement on Kawa-1               site in the second half of 2022. This site, known
                         That changed on February 1, when Frontera   as Wei-1, will “target Campanian and Santo-
                         Energy and CGX Energy, the Canadian compa-  nian-aged stacked channels in the western fan
                         nies that have teamed up to explore the Coren-  complex in the northern section of the Coren-
                         tyne block, reported a find at Kawa-1.  tyne block.” They also said they would use the
                           In a statement, the companies said that the   Maersk Discoverer semi-submersible rig, the   CGX and Frontera
                         wildcat exploration well had “encountered   same unit that drilled Kawa-1, to sink Wei-1.
                         approximately 177 feet (54 metres) of hydrocar-                           may start looking
                         bon-bearing reservoirs within Maastrichtian,   New partner needed?          for another
                         Campanian and Santonian horizons, based   As of press time, neither CGX nor Frontera
                         on initial evaluation of logging while drilling   had spoken publicly about what might hap-  partner at
                         (LWD) data.” They noted that the well had been   pen after Wei-1 is complete. However, Andres
                         drilled in the northern section of the block, not   Armijos, the head of Latin America research at  Corentyne further
                         far from sections of two areas where commer-  Houston-based Welligence Energy Analytics,
                         cial oil reserves have been discovered – namely,   believes that the Canadian companies may start   down the road
                         the eastern end of the Stabroek block and the   looking for another partner further down the
                         western central section of Block 58 offshore   road, assuming that the results of their drilling
                         Suriname.                            programme remain positive.
                           According to the statement, many of the   “It’s too early to make a definitive judgement,
                         hydrocarbon shows encountered at Kawa-1   but given that Kawa lies within a prolific fairway
                         “are similar in age and can be correlated using   of discoveries, the early signs are good,” he told
                         regional seismic data” with the finds at Stabroek   NewsBase. “However, CGX and Frontera will
                         and Block 58. However, some demonstrate   want to prove up more resource before making
                         the presence of hydrocarbon-bearing sands at   any development decisions. We also think it
                         greater depths, including Coniacian horizons or   likely they’ll try to bring on a partner prior to any
                         even older, and thus have the potential to open   development. Doing so enables them to a) real-
                         up new opportunities.                ise some early value from the block, b) reduce
                           Frontera drilled Kawa-1 to a depth of 6,578   future capital commitments and c) potentially
                         metres after spudding the well in 355-metre-  bring in a company with experience developing
                         deep water on August 22, 2021. It had been   offshore projects.”
                         targeting the “easternmost Campanian and San-  Armijos did not identify any potential part-
                         tonian channel/lobe complex on the northern   ners, but he said that CGX and Frontera might
                         section of the Corentyne block,” the statement   be able to launch production at Corentyne rel-
                         noted.                               atively quickly. “Given the water depths, we’d
                                                              anticipate full-scale production starting in four
                         Excitement and assessment            to five years after commerciality is established,”
                         So far, CGX and Frontera have not yet specu-  he commented.”
                         lated publicly about the size of their discovery.   Additionally, he said that the success at
                         However, they have expressed excitement about   Kawa-1 had the potential to attract more IOCs
                         this development.                    to Guyana’s next licensing round, which is
                           Gabriel de Alba, the chairman of Frontera’s   scheduled to kick off later this year. “Yes, it is
                         board of directors and co-chairman of CGX’s   likely to increase interest in the round,” he told
                         board of directors, called the find a “potentially   NewsBase. ™
                         transformational opportunity” and waxed
                         enthusiastic about “the growing success story
                         unfolding in offshore Guyana.” (Frontera and
                         CGX are deeply intertwined. The former com-
                         pany is the majority shareholder in the latter,
                         while equity in the Corentyne project is split
                         66.67% to the latter and 33.33% to the former.)
                           Frontera and CGX went on to say that they
                         were working to confirm the net pay and fluid
                         properties of hydrocarbon reserves in the shal-
                         low and deep layers of Kawa-1 with electric
                         wireline logging and fluid sampling and would
                         reveal the results of the drilling programme “as
                         soon as practicable.” Additionally, they indicated
                         that they expected to wrap up drilling by the end
                         of this month and would be able to finalise their
                         estimate for the cost of the well once they had
                         reached this milestone.
                           In the meantime, the companies appear set
                         on making a more thorough assessment of the   CGX and Frontera sank Kawa-1 with the Maersk Discoverer (Photo: Maersk Drilling)



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