The 2011 drilling program onshore the Sultane of Oman has continued with the successful completion of the horizontal sidetracking in the Saiwan East -2 well on Block 4. The well has been completed as a producer and is being connected to testing equipment for a planned long term production test. The rig has moved to the Saiwan East-1 area to drill the Saiwan East-7 exploration well ("SE-7") to test the Khufai section in the southern part of the Saiwan East structure.

SE-2 was drilled as a vertical well in spring of 2009 and discovered the oil bearing Khufai limestone section which on test flowed naturally 280 BOPD of 33 degree API oil for 14 hours. A second Khufai well, SE-3, was drilled horizontally in summer 2010, which was tested over four days with a maximum flow rate during a 30 minute period of more than 10,000 bopd from a 467 meters horizontal section.

SE-2 was re-entered in February 2011 in order to complete a second horizontal well in the Khufai structure. The well encountered oil as expected and the 676 meters horizontal section will now be hooked up to testing equipment for a long term production test to further evaluate the Khufai reservoir. The well is planned to be tested for at least a 30 days period. In addition to confirming oil in the Khufai reservoir, open hole logs also confirmed the presence of heavy oil in the Miqrat, Amin and Buah formations.

The rig has been moved to drill the SE-7 well, an exploration well designed to test for the presence of oil in the Khufai section in the southern part of the Saiwan East structure. The drill site is located 280 meters southwest of SE-1, drilled by Encana in 2004, and 11.6 kilometers to the southwest of the SE-2 Khufai discovery well.

Tethys has a 30 per cent interest in Blocks 3 and 4. Partners are Mitsui E&P Middle East B.V. with 20 percent and the operator CC Energy Development S.A.L. (Oman branch) holding the remaining 50 percent.

Tags: Tethys Oil