Stimulated by an in-house mapping project, the Perth-based company said it has been negotiating the extra leases for some time and estimates the in-place oil resource in McCool has increased from 4.7 million barrels to about 6MMbbl.
If the horizontal drilling program is successful then the recoverable oil potential may be up to 2MMbbl net to Salinas, it said.
Following a successful campaign at Salinas’ nearby North San Ardo (NSA) heavy oil development, the Ensign 508 rig has moved to the McCool project and spudded the Capps 1-22H well.
Salinas is drilling the well in a northward direction on the field, parallel to a series of historical vertical oil production wells that have produced similar crude to NSA.
The oil reservoir at McCool is the Lombardi Sandstone unit, which is also productive at NSA and the giant San Ardo oil field.
The Capps 1-22H well is expected to take a further week to drill, then completed with a workover rig and placed on extended production test.
