KOV Begins Drilling of Fourth Makeevskoye Well
Kulczyk Oil Ventures (KOV) has begun the drilling of a deep well on the Makeevskoye field in Ukraine, the Makeevskoye-16 (M-16) well, which will target a high potential reservoir.
The well will be drilled to a depth of 3,850 metres and will take around 90 days to reach that target, KOV says. The well will target a prospect that the company describes as having "multiple potential reservoir units," with an appraisal well targeting the upper portion of the prospect and an exploration well targeting the deeper portion.
The upper portion, which has identified a structure using 3D seismic will target stacked reservoir units in the Bashkirian and Upper Serpukhovian. These intervals have previously tested positive for natural gas elsewhere within the Makeevskoye field.
The exploration well targeting the deeper portion of the prospect will aim to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of deeper formations in the Lower Serpukhovian and potentially in the Visean.
KOV estimates that the potential reserves in the Bashkirian and Upper Serpukhovian zones have prospects of approximately 38 billion cubic feet (best estimate). The Lower Serpukhovian zone is estimated to have reserves of 41 billion cubic feet (best estimate).
Should this deep well be successful, the company says it would add to the reserves and production capability of the Makeevskoye field. KOV already has three producing wells on the Makeevskoye field, the M-19, M-20 and M-21 wells. The M-16 well is located 6.7 kilometres northwest of the the Makeevskoye-2 well, which began production earlier this month. That well has performed at an initial rate of 1.7 million cubic feet per day.
KOV has also noted further success on the field in the past week with the casing of the Makeevskoye-20 well, which has been cased in preparation for production. The company's first successful well, the Makeevskoye-19 well, has been producing since July 2011.
"The M-16 well is an exciting well which will test a new structure and new target horizons," Executive Vice President of KOV, Jock Graham, said today. "It will not only be targeting formations that are currently producing within the Makeevskoye field but will also target deeper formations, which have not been produced from the Company's license areas, potentially opening up new opportunities for reserve and production growth."
KOV has a 70 per cent stake in the Makeevskoye field through its 70 per cent stake in Makeevskoye operator KUB-Gas.