Gulf of Suez Oil Discovery -- North Ramadan oil field

[Dogmudgeon]

While reading the article on tho Cantarell oil field in Rigzone, I found this one:

IPR and ONGC Make Gulf of Suez Oil Discovery

Texas Independent, IPR, and partner, Indian super-major ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL), have made a significant new oilfield discovery in their first exploration well in the Gulf of Suez concession, North Ramadan. The discovery well, North Ramadan-1A, is located approximately 6 km to the west of IPR's North July oil field which has been producing since 1991.

North Ramadan-1A, the first commitment well for the North Ramadan concession, was drilled to total depth of 10,050 ft in the Lower Miocene Mheiherrat formation. A total of 133 ft over a gross interval of 174 ft of interbedded sandstones, shales and limestones in the Asl formation were perforated. IPR, operator, conducted tests of the reservoir over a period of 3 days and tested at a naturally flowing rate of 2,979 BOPD and 1.5 MMscf/D with no water. Analysis of oil confirmed that the gravity of the crude (sweet) was 36.5°API. IPR anticipates additional zones to be prospective and will focus attention on the tested zones and the upside potential during the upcoming drilling campaign. IPR's offshore infrastructure at the adjacent North July Development lease will provide options for expedited development for this discovery.

The North Ramadan concession is 290 sq. km in size and is surrounded by some of Egypt's most prolific producing oil fields in the Gulf of Suez. Total potential resources in the block exceed 200 MMBO. IPR and OVL are in the first phase (three years) of exploration in North Ramadan and have 2 remaining exploratory wells and acquisition of 3D seismic. The budget for the first phase work program of activities is approximately US $45 MM.

I do not know how to derive a capacity estimate from the figures given, but this looks like a biggish discovery. None the less, "biggish" is still a lot smaller than, say, something the size of the Cantarell or Samlotor with 15-20 billion barrels' capacity. By way of example, the mighty Ghawar oil field(s) weighs in at 75-90 GBBL, and the recent Alaskan strike in the ANWR is estimated at 10-12 GBBL.

This is worth keeping track of. Rigzone has likewise been added to my list of links. It may be the voice of the oil industry alone, but that in itself demands our attention.

--p!

[madeline_con]

1. Do we have to look for WMD's in Egypt, too?!

I'm sure there are Al Qaeda ties there, right?

[FogerRox]

2. Well

There are around 45 offshore fields producing but nearly all are much smaller than the early fields. The Gulf of Suez is very mature and the giant fields are in decline. Modern seismic data should reveal more small fields under the salt, however these are unlikely to have a great impact on the declining production rates. The new oil fields and extensions discovered each year are too small to offset the depleting mature giant fields.

http://www.energyfiles.com/afrme/egypt.html