The company yesterday said its Cambay-72 well intersected hydrocarbons at the level of the primary Oligocene and secondary Miocene and Eocene objectives after it was cased and suspended for oil and gas bearing horizons.
“The well logs indicate the likelihood of a significant column of gas in reservoir sandstone of apparently excellent quality at the shallower Miocene objective for which no estimate of the likely resource volumes has been calculated to date,” Oilex said.
The oil and gas resource estimates for the Cambay OS II and the Eocene EP IV sandstones on the Western High Trend are 16-108 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil (with a best estimate of 43MMbbl), 77-432 billion cubic feet of gas (with a best estimate of 173Bcf) and 1.6-9.8 million stock tank barrels of condensate (with a best estimate of 3.7 million stock tank barrels).
The company said the data collected from the well “generally confirm” these estimates for the OS-11 and EP-IV levels and the data will now be evaluated to prepare for the testing program.
Oilex said its Cambay-71 well, on the flank of the northern culmination of the Western High structure about 800 metres to the northeast of Cambay-72, is expected to intersect a geological section similar to the first well.
It is expected to take eight to 11 days to reach the planned total depth of 1600m.
Oilex said the testing program on both wells will be undertaken using a workover rig and will be conducted consecutively in October once Cambay 71 is finished to minimise cost.
The wells are part of the company's maiden drilling program in the onshore Cambay field, targeting a potential oil leg on the Western High Trend.
In June, Oilex announced it was taking over as operator of the Cambay field, in which it has a 45% stake, 15% of which was acquired from Niko Resources and remains subject to approval by the Indian Government. Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) holds the remaining 55% interest in the Cambay production-sharing contract.
The Cambay field is located in a prolific onshore petroleum province in Gujarat at the northern end of the Bay of Cambay, close to existing pipelines and industrial infrastructure in India's main heavy industrial corridor.
Also subject to government approval is Oilex's 40% interest in the Bhandut field, located south of Cambay near the industrial centre of Hazira, and the Sabarmati field, further to the north near Ahmedabad, with GSPC holding the remaining stake.
