Bismil Prospect Summary
1. Introduction
Eureka has a 10% interest in two Exploration Licences (“EL’s”) in South Eastern Turkey. The two Licences, covering an area of approximately 590 square kilometres, are located in the major oil producing region of the country.
Eureka and its partners have drilled two wells within the Bismil licence area. The first well, Koyunlu-1, was drilled in late 2006 and was scheduled to drill to a target depth of 1,380 metres to test the Garzan and Mardin formations. Drilling was halted at a depth of 1,252 metres so that the encouraging oil shows obtained from the fractured carbonates of the shallower Garzan Formation could be tested. A non-commercial quantity of heavy oil was recovered from the initial testing operations from the Garzan Formation indicating an active oil system is present with the potential for producible oil accumulations to be trapped up-dip. The well has been suspended.
Figure 1. Location of the Bismil Prospect in Turkey
Koyunlu-1 is located about 17 kilometres south and up-dip of the giant West Raman oil field (original oil in place 1.5 billion barrels) and about 40 kilometres south of the Selmo oil field (original oil in place 500 million barrels).
The second exploration well, Koyunlu-2, commenced drilling in January 2008 and reached a final depth of 1,311 metres. The well was designed to test the Garzan Formation updip of the extensive oil shows obtained in the Koyunlu-1 well along with the Beloka and Mardin Formations. Oil shows were obtained in the lowermost 15 metres of the Garzan Formation however a drill stem test over the full section recovered only formation water and drilling fluids. Minor oil shows were also evident in the drill cuttings through the Beloka and Mardin Formations with no oil shows evident upon testing. Accordingly this well has been plugged and abandoned.
2. Prospect
The Koyunlu prospect is located in a regionally well established oil system and the eastern portion of the structure has similarities to the Raman field structures. The target reservoirs are Cretaceous age carbonates of the Garzan, Beloka and Mardin Groups (approx. 1,300 – 1,380 metres), the same reservoirs which host oil in the Raman fields and numerous other fields in the region, and the deeper Ordovician aged Bedinan Formation.
The oil recovered from the Raman fields is relatively heavy (13-18 API gravity) and of similar density to the oil recovered from the Garzan Formation in the Koyunlu – 1 well (approximately 13 degrees API gravity). This oil is readily saleable at a small discount to standard Middle Eastern Crude prices. The area has good oil and gas infrastructure with the regional oil refining and handling centre at Batman, being 24 kilometres north of the well location.
The partners in the Bismil prospect are currently processing additional seismic acquired on the EL’s with a view to determining the location for a further well.
3. Eureka’s Interest in the Bismil Prospect
Eureka has a 10% interest in the Bismil EL’s and an option to increase its interest in the licence’s by a further 10% at a cost of USD1.25M exercisable after the drilling and completion of a third well. The option may be extended to later wells if the third well is not drilled to a sufficient depth to test the Bedinan Formation.