Australia’s Horizon Oil deepened the Chott Fejaj No 3A well in Tunisia to 3,965 meters within a Triassic evaporite section. The Fejaj permit is located in the Ghafsa Trough. Fields such as El Franig, Sabria, Tarfa and Baguel are located in the vicinity.
Oil and gas pipelines pass within 12 kilometers of the well location, providing ready access to markets in the event of a discovery. There is a particularly strong demand and price regime for gas reserves in Italy and in Europe generally.
Horizon participated in the drilling of the Chott Fejaj No 3A well to a depth of 3,542 meters in 1998. The well was cased and suspended at a depth of 3,532 meters to allow later re-entry and deepening. The deepening operation is being carried out using the Great Wall Drilling Company rig GW-92.
The Chott Fejaj structure is a large tilted fault block, covering an area of several tens of square kilometres at its deeper levels. Gross rock volumes are consequently substantial, leading to the potential for the structure to host significant gas reserves at one or more
levels.
Mean reserves potential is estimated to be 600 billion cubic feet of gas, with upside of several trillion cubic feet. Horizon is operator and has a 14.29 percent interest in the prospect. The company may, at its option, increase this interest to 21.79 percent after the well is drilled,
by payment of 7.5 percent of prior costs. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
