Valeura Energy announces new Turkish discoveries

Valeura Energy Inc. has announced three new discoveries in Turkey and provided an operational update for Q3 2014.

Commentary

Commenting on the news, CEO Jim McFarland said: "We are very excited to announce the successful results from a new conventional natural gas exploration program on our TBNG JV lands (Valeura 40%) in the sparsely drilled Osmanli area.

"Three exploration wells have been drilled to date on new 3D seismic, all of which have discovered gas, which could potentially add 6 - 7 million ft³/d to productivity by late October when the wells are expected to be tied-in. Two additional firm exploration wells are planned in this program, one of which has been drilled to total depth and is logging. We expect these results to lead to a number of follow-on exploration, appraisal and development locations in the Osmanli area.

"One of the successful exploration wells at Gurgen-1 is only 500 m from the boundary of Valeura's 100% owned Banarli licence and has assisted in identifying a number of Osmancik formation exploration prospects and leads on our acreage.

"The recent announcement by the Turkish government that natural gas reference prices will increase by 9% effective October 1, 2014 is also welcome news and is expected to move our average wellhead price realizations in Turkey to approximately US$ 10.25 per million ft³ in the fourth quarter.”

Gas discoveries

The company has made natural gas discoveries in the three new vertical exploration wells drilled in the third quarter on the joint venture lands acquired from Thrace Basin Natural Gas (Turkiye) Corporation (TBNG) and Pinnacle Turkey Inc. (PTI) (TBNG JV) (Valeura 40%) in the Osmanli area. These wells were drilled on new 3D seismic acquired in late 2013 and are part of a planned program of five firm exploration wells in the Osmanli area in 2014 targeting conventional natural gas in the Osmancik formation.

Gurgen-1

The most significant discovery was at the Gurgen-1 well, which was drilled in 14 days to a vertical depth of 2100 m into the Osmancik formation. Log analysis indicates approximately 47 m of net pay with an average porosity of 17%. The well was cased, 12 m of net pay was perforated as an initial completion and a short flow test was carried out at an initial rate of approximately 4.0 million ft³/d. The well is currently being tied-in with a 6" lateral to the closest sales line at a distance of 3.5 km, which is expected to be completed in mid-October. The lateral has been sized to allow for potential additional drilling on this new discovery. The cost to drill and complete the well was approximately US$ 950,000.

The Gurgen-1 well is located approximately 500 m south of the corporation's Banarli licence (Valeura 100%) and the 3D seismic indicates that the Osmancik structure could extend into the Banarli licence and sets up a potential drillable prospect.

An appraisal well is expected to be drilled before year-end 2014 on the structure discovered by the Gurgen-1 well.

Tavanli-1

The Tavanli-1 exploration well was drilled in 12 days to a depth of 1300 m into the Osmancik formation. Log analysis indicates approximately 9 m of net pay with an average porosity of 24%. The well was cased and completed and a short flow test was carried out at an initial rate of approximately 2.0 million ft³/d.

The well is currently being tied-in to the gathering system and should be on-stream by the end of October. The cost to drill and complete the well was approximately US$ 660,000.

Biyikali-2 Sidetrack

The Biyikali-2 sidetrack exploration well was drilled in six days to a vertical depth of 900 m into the Osmancik formation. Log analysis indicates approximately 5 m of net pay with 24% average porosity. The well was cased and completed and a short flow test was carried out at an initial rate of approximately 1.5 million ft³/d.

The well is being tied into the gathering system and should be on-stream by mid-October. The cost to drill and complete the sidetrack was approximately US$ 500,000.

To read the full operational update, please visit Valeura Energy’s website.

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/13102014/valeura-energy-turkish-update-1609/