Norwegian oil and gas company, DNO International, has announced that the Benenan-3 well currently drilling in the Kurdistan region of Iraq has encountered movable oil
DNO's Benenan-3 well hit the Bekhme formation at a depth of approximately 2,000 m. The company added that testing is ongoing to acquire additional data.
Benenan-3 is the start of a multi-well development of the Benenan field in Kurdistan's Erbil license and will be completed as a horizontal producer in the Najmeh formation.
Following Benenan-3, the rig will be mobilised to drill the Bastora-2 development well in the adjacent Bastora field, also in the Erbil license. Bastora-1, the first horizontal well completed in the Kurdistan region, is producing from the Bekhme formation under long-term test in preparation for full field development.
DNO also announced that the Tawke-18 well is drilling ahead at 2,400 m and the Tawke-17 well is drilling ahead at 550 m. A fourth rig has been mobilised by the company to re-enter the Tawke-14 well in early October for a planned sidetrack into the cretaceous interval. Tawke-19, the last Tawke development well under the 100,000 bpd production enhancement programme, is also scheduled to spud in early October.
"Through these wells and others planned next year, the company is targeting in excess of 500mn barrels of gross unrisked oil and gas reserves, predominantly in Kurdistan," said Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, executive chairman of DNO International. "Our drilling campaign is aggressive, it is balanced between exploration and development and it is consequential," he added.
