Page 6 - LatAmOil Week 29 2022

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Melbana decides to drill

sidetrack well at Zapato-1

AUSTRALIA’S Melbana Energy revealed earlier chairman, described recent events at the block
this week that it had decided to drill a sidetrack as a setback but not a disaster. “While the stuck
at the site of the Zapato-1 exploration well at pipe event and the need to sidetrack the well
Block 9, its contract area onshore Cuba. [are] a little frustrating, these are normal oper-
In a statement, the company reported that it ations that sometimes occur in the course of
had sunk Zapato-1 to a depth of 1,666 metres, some drilling programmes, and our operations
had logged the open hole, and had then run team is well equipped to manage this and com-
11.75-inch (298.5-mm) casing into the 14-inch mence the sidetrack drill,” he said. “Despite this,
(355.6-mm) hole to a depth of 1,243 metres. It what is particularly encouraging is the obser-
explained that its next move had been to clean vation of oil over the shakers while still within
out the hole and then resume the process of the ophiolite overburden section. This provides
drilling through ophiolite rock to reach its main encouragement for the target interval yet to be
target within lower carbonate rock layers. How- encountered.”
ever, it said, the drill string became stuck at a Block 9 covers an area of 2,344 square km
depth of 1,698 metres. along the northern coast of Cuba and is located
As a result, Melbana opted to sever the about 140 km east of the island. It lies within a
trapped drill string above the point of obstruc- proven hydrocarbon system and is on trend with
tion at a depth of 1,507 metres, recover its Varadero, a field that contains billions of barrels
remaining drill pipe and set a cement plug with of oil. McDaniel & Associates, as independent
the top at a depth of 1,252.5 metres. The com- experts and consultants, published a Competent
pany also decided not to abandon the well, since Persons Report (CPR) in mid-2018 concluding
it had observed free oil on the shakers at the sur- that the block contained about 15.7bn barrels of
face while trying to retrieve its stuck drill string. oil in place (OIP) as a best estimate and prospec-
Instead, it began preparing to drill a side- tive resources of 676mn barrels (best estimate).
track so that it could reach its main target. This Melbana has a 30% stake in Block 9 and is
sidetrack will be sunk to a depth of at least 2,650 serving as operator of the project. It is devel-
metres so that it reaches Melbana’s primary tar- oping the contract area in co-operation with
get in the carbonate layers. Angola’s national oil company (NOC) Sonan-
According to previous reports, the Austral- gol, which acquired a 70% stake in the project
ian company spudded Zapato-1 on May 21. The via a farm-in deal in 2020. Sonangol has agreed
well is slated to test a target that has a prospec- to cover 85% of the $30mn cost of a two-well
tive resource (best estimate) of 95mn barrels of drilling programme that began with the Alam-
crude oil. eda-1 exploration well, and the Australian firm
Andrew Purcell, Melbana’s executive is covering the remaining 15%. ™

Zapato-1 is on the same trend as the Varadero oilfield (Image: Melbana Energy)

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 29 21•July•2022