With a planned depth of 3420m, Shahd-1 is the first well in an extensive 18-month drilling program, according to Oil Search, which holds a 49.5% stake in the well with operator Sipetrol International owning the remaining interest.

The program includes two back-to-back wells in the East Ras Qattara block and up to 10 exploration and development wells in the Oil Search-operated Area ‘A’ concession, adjacent to the Gulf of Suez in the Eastern Desert.

Shahd-1 will primarily target oil reservoirs in the Cretaceous Abu Roash, Bahariya and Alam El Bueib Formations. Oil Search said production storage facilities are located in adjacent concessions.

Meanwhile in the Yemen, Oil Search said its Nabrajah-11 appraisal well flowed about 200 barrels of oil per day and about 500 barrels of water per day during testing with an electrical submersible pump (ESP).

The company says operator DNO ASA now plans to temporarily suspend the well and test it again using advanced stimulation techniques.

Nabrajah-11 is located 1km west of the Nabrajah-5 production well. The objective of the well is to further appraise the Kholan and Basement potential in the Nabrajah-5 fault terrace.

Participants in the Nabrajah-11 well are operator DNO (56.67%), Oil Search (Yemen) (28.33%) and The Yemen Company (15%), which is being carried through this phase of the program.

In Papua New Guinea, Oil Search says its Arakubi-1A well has been temporarily suspended, due to problems with mast alignment on the drill rig.

Two weeks ago, the company was forced to abandon drilling of the original exploration well, Arakubi-1, due to poor hole conditions.

With a planned total depth of 2945m, Arakubi-1 is located in PDL 2, 5km east of the Kutubu oil field and is targeting the Toro Sandstone in a seismically-defined hanging wall structure.

Partners in Arakubi11 are Oil Search (operator with a 70.24% stake), AGL (13.93%), Merlin Petroleum (7.93%) and Petroleum Resources (Kutubu) (7.9%).