Circle Oil Announces Gas Discovery at CGD-13 Well in Morocco

AIM-listed Circle Oil, the North African focused oil and gas company, has announced a gas discovery at the Caid El Gaddari-13 (CGD-13) exploration well on the Sebou Permit, onshore Morocco.

The CGD-13 well spudded on 8 October and reached a total depth of 871m on 17 October, significantly ahead of schedule, the company said. The target consisted of gas-bearing Miocene sandstones in a structurally elevated position east of the CGD-1 well and west of the CGD-9 well. The well has encountered approximately 5.9m of net pay and an interval of 4.7m was perforated between 791m and 812m.

Testing has been completed and the well has flowed at a rate of 4.45MMcf/d, Circle Oil said.

The successful well is located 320m northwest of the closest tie-in point on the 75 percent Circle owned 55km pipeline to Kenitra. The company stated that the well will be brought into production and produced through the pipeline to Circle customers in Kenitra. 

This discovery concludes the 2014-15 drilling campaign for Circle in Morocco. 

“The successful campaign has seen ten wells drilled in total, seven wells in Sebou and three in Lalla Mimouna. In total the campaign recorded six new discoveries, five at the Sebou permit and one at the Lalla Mimouna permit. The campaign confirms our understanding of the Sebou permit and has proved the presence of gas at the Lalla Mimouna permit,” the company said.

Improving operational efficiency has been a key goal for Circle over the last six months.  Drilling costs have been reduced by 30 percent per well during the course of the campaign.