The US major is planning to drill 18 additional long-reach horizontal laterals at Van Gogh later this year, with first production anticipated by the end of the first quarter of 2009.
Drilled in 1205 feet (367m) of water, the field’s first horizontal well, Theo-3H, was drilled to a total depth of 10,598ft with a 4554ft-long horizontal section in the Top Barrow formation.
The test was limited by the capacity of downhole and surface equipment, according to Apache.
“The Theo 3-H horizontal well confirms our assessment of the productivity of the Top Barrow Sand reservoir,” said Apache president and chief executive Steven Farris.
“The Van Gogh development is one of six projects in Apache’s core growth areas of Australia, Canada and Egypt that are projected to add aggregate production of 108,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day over the next four years.”
Apache is operator and owns 52.5% of the $US500 million ($A590 million) development, while Tokyo-based Inpex owns 47.5%.
Last month, the company announced it had signed a contract for a floating production, storage and offtake vessel, with a processing capacity of 63,000bpd and storage capacity of 620,000bbl.
