SDX makes conventional natural gas discovery at Lalla Mimouna

The AIM-traded firm said the LNB-1 well was drilled to a total depth of 1861 meters.

It said the primary target was in the Lafkerena sequence, where 300 meters of gas-bearing horizons were encountered in a “significantly” over-pressured section.

The mudlog obtained through the section showed elevated gas readings of more than 20% with multiple sections above 50%, SDX reported.

That section could not be logged using conventional methods due to hole conditions.

The gas shows in that section contained heavier hydrocarbon components throughout, which the board said was indicative of a thermogenic hydrocarbon source rock.

Those types of shows had not been seen to date in other parts of the basin, and indicated that a new petroleum system had been encountered in the area.

Based on the mudlog shows, reservoir quality information from the formation cuttings, analogue fields outside the Gharb basin, and the size of the feature as currently mapped, a preliminary recoverable gas volume was estimated by management.

That resulted in an un-risked mid-case volume of 10.2 Bscf of conventional natural gas and 55 thousand barrels of condensate.

SDX said that was “significantly larger” than the traps typically encountered in Sebou, and would exceed the size required to justify development and connection to the existing infrastructure in the Sebou area.

Additionally, in the secondary target of the Upper Dlalha, 2.6 meters of net conventional natural gas pay sands were encountered with average porosity in the pay section of 33%.

That pay section was similar to the Guebbas targets, from which SDX successfully produces on the Sebou permit.

The well was now being completed as a conventional gas producer in the Upper Dlalha with the deeper Lafkerena section being suspended until the appropriate equipment can be mobilised, to test and produce from the over-pressured section.

SDX said the timetable to test that section had not been finalised, and would be the subject of a future update.

The drilling rig would now move to the LMS-1 exploration well in the Lalla Mimouna Nord permit, which will be the last well of the current drilling campaign.

“We are very excited about the results of this exploration well,” said SDX president and CEO Paul Welch.

“It was a higher risk exploration prospect than previous drilling in Sebou, as it was a sequence that had not been previously penetrated in a similar structural location.

“We had anticipated a higher-pressure section, based upon offset drilling in the area, but the actual pressures encountered, the thickness of the section, and the type and amount of shows significantly exceeded our expectations.”

Welch said the company was currently in the early planning phases of determining how best to complete and test that section.

“The estimated volume potential is very encouraging and I look forward to updating the market further on our activities in due course.

“Meanwhile, we have one more exploration well to drill on the permit in this campaign and I am looking forward to some more positive results based upon our success in LNB-1.”