Following approvals by the Indian Government and joint venture partners, Oilex says it is now seeking a suitable workover rig to start the testing program on Cambay-72 next month.

Depending on these test results, as well as those from a newly completed 3D seismic survey, Oilex says it will deepen and test the second well, Cambay-71, in the first quarter of next year.

The company said the preliminary data from the 160 square kilometre seismic survey was of excellent quality, with the initial processed data to be available for interpretation in five weeks’ time.

In late September, Oilex announced that wireline logs indicated its Cambay-72 well had encountered a significant column of excellent quality gas.

Both gas and oil flowed to surface during drilling from the Eocene section, which Oilex described as “significantly over-pressured” below a depth of 1730m.

If successfully tested from the Eocene, the well will be placed on production, while testing of the shallower potential oil and gas-bearing zones may be postponed to a later date.

A fortnight after this discovery, Oilex announced its second well, Cambay-71, had intersected a similar section to the previous well. Drilling subsequently stopped above the over-pressured Eocene section at a depth of 1600m pending a decision to test the Eocene potential reservoir horizons through larger diameter casing.

Indications of hydrocarbons were recorded while drilling the main prognosed shallower reservoir intervals in this well.

“The potential remains to be confirmed because attempts to gather reliable pressure and fluid information from the shallower objectives were unsuccessful due, in part, to apparent plugging of the tools by very friable sand and mechanical failures,” Oilex said.

“The 3D seismic survey may be useful as an indicator of the presence of the deeper targets and that will be determined from the preliminary field seismic data, which should be available within the next two weeks, at the same time as we proceed with assessing the availability of a rig and services.”

Meanwhile, Oilex is also waiting on government approval to be assigned additional interests in the Cambay, Bhandut and Sabarmati fields, acquired from Niko. The work program for Bhandut and Sabarmati will start when the assignments are approved.

Once these are granted, Oilex’s stake will increase from 30% to 45%, while partner Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation will have 55%.