Sound Energy makes solid progress on TE-10 well
Morocco-focussed upstream gas company Sound Energy updated the market on its TE-10 exploration well on Monday, following the identification of gas bearing sands within and below the currently-mapped TAGI structural closure, which it said potentially de-risked the stratigraphic upside in North East Lakbir in its Greater Tendrara licence area.
The AIM-traded firm said the North East Lakbir stratigraphic trap had a pre-drill mid case potential on a gross basis of 2.7 Tcf gas originally in place (GOIP), and the smaller TAGI structural closure had a mid case potential on a gross basis of 128 Bcf GOIP.
It also confirmed the achievement of total depth (TD) with TE-10, the potential identification of additional thin bedded net pay, and the successful recovering of a gas sample to surface.
“The TE-10 well was the second in Sound Energy's current three well exploration programme in the Tendrara area designed to explore three geologically-independent plays and to establish the potential of the basin,” the company’s board said in its statement.
“The well is located approximately 25 kilometres to the northeast of the recently-awarded Tendrara production concession, which contains the TE-5 Horst discovery unlocked by Sound Energy in 2016-2017.”
The TE-10 well was drilled to a TD of 2,218m measured depth - 209m MD below the base of the TAGI sandstone sequence, in an as yet undated section of mudstones and minor thin bedded sandstones, with gas shows down to 2,070m MD.
Sound Energy announced the preliminary results of the intermediate TE-10 logging results on 27 December, which included a potential TAGI gross reservoir sequence from 1,899m MD to 2,009m MD, and an initial net pay estimate of up to 10.5m, with an average porosity of 8%.
“The company has now completed the high definition formation micro-imager log (FMI) which provides a microresistivity image of the wellbore at a much finer resolution than the initial logging suite,” the board explained.
“Significantly, the FMI has potentially identified the presence of additional thin bedded net pay within the previously identified potential gross reservoir interval between 1,899m MD to 2,009m MD.
Quantification of the overall net pay is underway and will require substantiation from sidewall core analysis and further wireline log evaluation.”
Sound Energy said it was also “very pleased” to confirm that a gas sample was successfully recovered from one of those pay intervals at approximately 1,937m MD using a modular formation dynamics tester system (MDT).
It said the successful retrieval of that gas sample confirmed the presence of moveable hydrocarbons in the reservoir, and importantly was the first successful MDT gas test from the TAGI sandstone in the Tendrara licence, where testing had historically been hampered by the tight nature of the sandstone.
Following the acquisition of the vertical seismic profile (VSP), the company said it could confirm that the gas shows observed extended below the currently-mapped structural closure at approximately 1,958m MD.
That suggested the gas accumulation could extend updip into the stratigraphic trap, the board said.
Seismic interpretation and modelling was underway to assist with internal estimates of gas resources within the discovery.
“With drilling operations now concluded, plans are now in progress to conduct a well test over the reservoir interval.
“This is expected to occur during February 2019, after rig de-mobilisation and mobilisation of the necessary testing equipment.”