Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 34 2022

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Baja-1 is the first hydrocarbon discovery made at Block 53 offshore Suriname (Image: APA)

APA announces first discovery at Block 53

US-BASED APA Corp. announced on August commitments for such an extension.
23 that it had made its first discovery of hydro- John J. Christmann, the president and CEO
carbons at Block 53 offshore Suriname in the of APA, expressed satisfaction with develop-
Baja-1 exploration well. ments at Baja-1. “Our success at Baja marks
In a statement, the company said it had the sixth oil discovery we have participated in
drilled in Baja-1 to a depth of 5,290 metres and offshore Suriname and the first on Block 53,” he
encountered 34 metres of net pay in the well, all said. “This result confirms our geologic model
of it within a single interval in the Campanian for the Campanian [horizon] in the area and
horizon. It reported that the discovery appears helps to de-risk other prospects in the southern
to be a down-dip lobe of the same depositional portion of both Blocks 53 and 58.”
system as Krabdagu, a field that lies 11.5 km to Block 53 lies directly east of Block 58 and
the west in Block 58, a separate licence area in covers an area of 867,000 acres (3,510 square
which APA has a 50% non-operating stake. (The km). Equity in the project is split 45% to APA,
remaining 50% is held by France’s TotalEnergies, the operator; 30% to Petronas of Malaysia and
the operator.) 25% to CEPSA of Spain.
APA said it was still in the process of evaluat-
ing the open-hole well logs, cores and reservoir Disappointment at Dikkop-1
fluids collected during the drilling of Baja-1. It In related news, APA also reported in its state-
also noted, though, that preliminary log and ment that TotalEnergies had finished drilling
fluid analysis indicated that the exploration well the Dikkop-1 exploration well at Block 58 with-
contains light crude oil and gas, with a gas-to-oil out encountering any hydrocarbons. The well
ratio (GOR) of 1,600-2,200 cubic feet (45.3-62.3 found only water-bearing sandstones when it
cubic metres) per barrel. reached the target interval, it explained.
The company used the Noble Gerry de The French major has, therefore, plugged
Souza, a drillship owned by Noble Drilling Co., and abandoned Dikkop-1 and is now moving
to sink Baja-1 in 1,140-metre-deep water. Once the Maersk Valiant drillship to another section
it wraps up work on this exploration well, it will of Block 58. The vessel’s next task will be to drill
move the vessel to its next drilling site at Awari, an appraisal well at Sapakara South, a section of
another exploration prospect that lies around 27 the block where successful flow tests were car-
km north of Maka Central, one of the discover- ried out in 2021.
ies made at Block 58. TotalEnergies and APA have made multi-
APA also noted that it had recently secured ple discoveries within Block 58. Krabdagu is
approval for an amendment to its produc- the most recent of these finds, and it is on the
tion-sharing contract (PSC) that offered the same trendline as the other discoveries made at
option of extending the exploration phase of the block – Maka Central, Kwaskwasi, Sapakara
its project for up to four years. It also said that Central, Keskesi and Sapakara South. The Dik-
it was working to formalise its first one-year kop prospect, by contrast, lay slightly further to
extension and had already completed all work the north. ™

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