The tests were undertaken in the Basement section and the overlying Kohlan Carbonate interval, Oil Search said today.

The forward plan is to move the rig to the Nabrajah-10 well site, located 1km north-east of Nabrajah-5 and in the same fault terrace. The objective of the Nabrajah-10 well is to further appraise the Kholan dolomite and Basement potential in the Nabrajah-5 fault terrace.

Nabrajah-5 continues to deliver about 5300 barrels a day under natural flow conditions with no water cut.

The Basement has yielded oil in other parts of the Nabrajah structure but it behaves differently from conventional reservoirs, and the partners are still trying to improve their understanding of the distribution of producible and fractured basement reservoir in the Nabrajah area, Oil Search said late last year.

The participants in the Nabrajah-9 sidetrack well are: operator DNO ASA (56.67%), Oil Search (Yemen) (28.33%) and The Yemen Company (15%, carried).