Petro Matad provides update on Mongolia drilling campaign
Petro Matad, AIM quoted Mongolian oil explorer, has provided an operational update for its planned 2018 drilling programme in Mongolia.
Highlights
Completed a US$16.8 million fundraising to execute a four well drilling programme on the company’s acreage in 2018, with the first well, Wild Horse-1, planned to spud in the second quarter of 2018 using the previously contracted and fully certified Sinopec Rig 4518
Making progress to source a rig to drill the two well programme in Block XX in the second half of 2018
Processing of the 2D and 3D seismic surveys acquired in Blocks IV and V respectively is ongoing. Data quality is very good and the work is progressing on schedule with final processed products expected by the end of the first quarter of 2018
Blocks IV and V
The Company’s planned two well, back to back, exploration drilling programme will commence with the spudding of a well on the Wild Horse prospect in Block IV in the Baatsagaan Basin.
The Wild Horse prospect is a prominent structural high well positioned to receive oil charge from two of the largest and deepest potential source kitchen areas in the company’s western Mongolian acreage.
The planned total depth (“TD”) of the well is 1,850 metres, penetrating a significant thickness of stratigraphy within closure. The company’s mid-case estimate of prospective resources in the Wild Horse structure is 290MMbo recoverable, with significant upside potential (c.750MMbo recoverable) identified in 13 further prospects and leads in the same basin which would be partially de-risked by success in Wild Horse-1.
The well is expected to take approximately 30-45 days to drill and log at a cost of about US$4 million.
Following Wild Horse-1, the rig will move to Block V and drill the Falcon prospect in the Tugrug Basin. The primary objective of the recently acquired 3D survey was to delineate accurately the cluster of prospects in the Falcon area to ensure the well is optimally located to penetrate the primary reservoir targets.
Falcon-1 is planned to be drilled to a TD of circa 3,000 metres and it is expected that the well will take approximately 60 days to drill and log at a cost of approximately US$7 million. The Company’s mid-case prospective resource estimate for the Falcon prospect is 100MMbo recoverable with 180MMbo of follow up potential identified nearby.
The Falcon area has been high graded for early drilling as there is very good evidence, including live oil staining in reservoirs penetrated in a nearby deep core hole, that the petroleum system is working in the Tugrug Basin. As a result of this high grading, Falcon has moved ahead of the Snow Leopard prospect in the company’s preferred drilling order.
The Snow Leopard prospect remains an attractive target for exploration in the Taats Basin of Block V and the Company looks forward to drilling the feature with the results from the 2018 drilling campaign in hand.
Efforts are now focused on securing the necessary environmental, chemical and land use permits that are required prior to the commencement of drilling. The company is targeting the spud of the Wild Horse-1 well as early in the Mongolian drilling season (mid-April to mid-November) as possible to provide sufficient time to fully complete operations and evaluate the results of the 2018 drilling programme.
The exact timing of the first well spud is dependent upon securing the necessary permits. As a result of the ongoing engagement with the Ministry of Mining, the Ministry of Environment and the industry regulator MRPAM, the Company expects that Wild Horse-1 will spud in the second quarter of 2018.
Sinopec Rig 4518, contracted for the 2018 drilling campaign in Blocks IV and V, has been stored for the winter in a Sinopec facility in southern Mongolia. Mobilisation will commence once the Company has secured the necessary drilling permits from the Mongolian authorities.
Block XX
The company is in active discussions with drilling contractors operating in Mongolia to secure a rig for its 2018 work programme in Block XX, and the company is confident that a suitable rig will be contracted to enable drilling in 2018, as planned.
The Company’s current intention is to spud the Gazelle prospect in the third quarter of 2018, with a second well to follow on immediately afterwards at a location still to be determined, based on ongoing technical work.
The prospectivity in the northern part of Block XX, neighbouring the producing fields in Block XIX, offers a good chance of success with the potential to put commercial discoveries on-stream quickly, utilising spare capacity in nearby facilities.
The recently approved two-year extension to the exploration term of Block XX allows the company sufficient time to explore these near field opportunities, with the 2018 two well programme being the first step in that campaign.
Mike Buck, CEO of Petro Matad said: ‘This is a very exciting time for Petro Matad as we head into one of the highest impact drilling campaigns any independent has undertaken in Mongolia. We are now deep into the preparation phase to spud our first well at Wild Horse-1 in the second quarter of 2018. We are pleased to see that rig availability for our planned drilling in Block XX looks good. I look forward to updating the market on our progress as our preparations for this highly active year continue’.
Source: Petro Matad