Valeura Sees Turkish Price Hike, Spuds Well
Calgary-based Valeura Energy said October 9 the Turkish gas grid operator Botas had implemented yet another increase in the country’s reference natural gas price, the fifth this year.
Effective from October 1, Botas announced the reference natural gas price, denominated in Turkish lira, would be increased by 18.5%, to approximately C$8.15 [US$6.28] per ’000 ft3, Valeura said. The increase reflects both an increase in regional gas prices and an offsetting decline in the value of the lira.
Meanwhile, Valeura said the first appraisal well on its basin-centred gas accumulation (BCGA) play in the Thrace basin was spudded on October 8, targeting a total depth of 5,000 m.
Inanli-1 is being drilled from a surface location some 6 km northeast of Valeura’s Yamalik-1 discovery well, and will test the full vertical extent of the BCGA play. It will also include an extensive program of data gathering, including logging, coring and flow testing.
Drilling is expected to take about 80 days, after which the well will be fracture stimulated to test select intervals.
“This is an exciting step for Valeura,” CEO Sean Guest said. “We have learned a great deal from the Yamalik-1 discovery well, but it had to stop drilling while still in a gas column due to high pressures. We are eager to test the full vertical and lateral extent of the BCGA through appraisal drilling.”
Valeura is operator of Inanli-1, but its full costs are being carried by Equinor subsidiary Statoil Banarli Turkey, as a condition of Equinor’s farm-in agreement signed in 2016. Following Inanli-1, Valeura intends to drill two additional appraisal wells back-to-back, with both partners paying their respective working interest share of the costs.