Independent exploration and production company Cheiron has announced that the GNN-4 well, which was drilled to assess the recent GNN oil discovery, was completed and tested successfully at an initial rate of more than 2,000 bopd
The discovery, which contains an estimated 260 MMbbls of oil in place, is located at the Geisum and Tawila West Concession in which Cheiron (through its PICO GoS affiliate) holds a participating interest and operating interest of 60 per cent and Kufpec holds a 40 per cent participating interest.
The concession is managed by a joint operating company owned by the Egyptian General Petroleum Company, Cheiron and Kufpec and named PetroGulf Misr (PGM), which is technically supervised by South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company.
The concession includes the mature Geisum oil field (with 32 active wells, extensive offshore infrastructure, and Zeit Bay onshore plant) that has been under production since the 1980s.
The GNN-3 exploration well, which was drilled in a separate fault block located north-east of the main Geisum field, was discovered in July 2019. The discovery encountered nearly 500 feet of good-quality net oil pay in the Nukhul formation and a three well-early production and reservoir appraisal drilling program is underway, given the very encouraging good results.
The GNN-4 well will be followed by two further wells in the southern area of the discovery to be drilled from the D platform. The development focus will then shift to the northern area of the discovery where additional drilling is planned, along with the early-production tie-back of the GNN-3 well.
Full field development will leverage existing Geisum facilities to accelerate production and minimise costs, and involve installing new platform and pipeline infrastructure as well.
The discovery is the first to be made in the Geisum area’s Nukhul formation and will open up further potential for exploration, both within the concession and on the neighbouring acreage.
It comes after PICO GoS and its partners have implemented an extensive, multi-year exploration and development campaign designed to maximise the concession’s economic reserves recovery. From a more regional perspective, oil finding has again shown that while the Gulf of Suez is a relatively mature hydrocarbon province, still has significant remaining exploration potential.