Gold Oil PLC
09 May 2007
For Immediate Release 9th May 2007
Gold Oil plc ('Gold') update on Operations on their
Onshore Block XXI Northwest Peru
The San Alberto-1X wild cat well was drilled in July/August 2006 to a depth of
5,113 feet to explore the Tertiary Verdun sands and the lower fractured
Palaeozoic quartzites both of which produce gas and oil, respectively, in the
surrounding area. The location was decided upon based on an aeromagnetic survey
that showed a major Palaeozoic structural high up-dip of Olympic's La Casita gas
field 20 - 40 Kms to the west and PetroTech's offshore San Pedro oil field 50
Kms to the west. It was assumed that this Palaeozoic high would have a
conformable Tertiary structure.
Logging, drilling results and regional information showed 315 gross feet of
hydrocarbon bearing sands in the Verdun and 250 gross feet of hydrocarbon
bearing sands in the Palaeozoic.
The decision was taken to production test these hydrocarbon bearing sands in
both the Verdun and the Palaeozoic, but despite many attempts to curb the influx
of water from Palaeozoic sands at the base of the well it was not possible to
get hydrocarbons to the surface. The well was eventually plugged and abandoned
in late November 2006. Following an intensive review of the well results the
Company has drawn the conclusion that the initial influx of water from below the
oil water contact in the lower Palaeozoic invaded the hydrocarbon bearing zones
and prevented the recovery of hydrocarbons to the surface. This water influx was
made worse by the well being shut-in for six weeks while waiting for a larger
rig.
With eight of the nine criteria required for producing hydrocarbons being
present, the only one missing was getting hydrocarbons to the surface, the
Company is very excited about the Block.
Since the well was abandoned the Company has been evaluating all the data to
decide what to do next. We cannot define the Verdun structure without more
shallow geophysical data as the aeromagnetic survey is only really valid for the
top Palaeozoic. After considerable thought the Company has decided that the best
approach would be to attempt to define the largest subsurface accumulation of
hydrocarbons in and around the structural high close by the San Alberto 1 well
at the lowest cost possible. Seismic is very expensive and has a long lead time
so the current plan is to run a 245 Km grid of an electromagnetic surface survey
over the target area.
The survey consists of transmitting a series of pulse-coded electrical transient
signals into the ground and measuring the voltage response between pairs of
receiver electrodes. The main advantages over seismic are of identifying
hydrocarbon accumulations rather than structural boundaries and second is that
it is about one sixth the cost of seismic. The technology has been used in
Russia and the Caspian area and is similar to that planned to be used after our
2D seismic survey in offshore Block Z34.
The survey will be carried out by Siberian Geophysical Research Developed
Company Ltd who have used it successfully in the FSU over the last ten years.
This will be the first time such technology will be used in Latin America and
thus may have more risk attached to it than conventional seismic.
Following the survey, which should be completed and evaluated with 3 months, the
plan is to drill at least one well and possibly two or more in the block.
However, this will depend on the results of the survey which may indicate that a
small 2D seismic survey will be needed to totally define a drilling location
before drilling.
Gary Moore, Managing Director of the Company said that 'The use of new
technology well away from where it has been successfully used is at variance to
the Company's philosophy of being first in but to be second with new technology.
However, with all time high manpower and equipment costs in the industry, never
mind availability, we need to acquire as much useful information as possible at
as low a cost as possible. At the end of the day we still have to drill a well
to find oil and gas, but if with this Russian technology we can identify the
best location to drill, we could drill a lot of wells for the current cost of a
modest 2D seismic survey.'
The technical information contained in this announcement has been reviewed and
approved by Mike Burchell, B.Sc., 66, member of the SPE and with over 44 years
experience in the oil and gas business.
Enquiries:
Gary Moore Managing Director Tel: +44 (0)1737833597
Email: gmoore@goldoilplc.com
Mike Burchell Chairman Tel. +44 (0) 1372361772
Email: mikeburchell@hotmail.com
Roland Cornish Beaumont Cornish Limited Tel: +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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