Norwegian oil and gas company, DNO International has announced that it has commenced extensive testing of the Tawke-23 exploration well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
The well is the second horizontal well drilled by DNO in the Tawke field and has encountered continuous oil shows within a 930m horizontal section in the main Cretaceous reservoir.
The test programme, which is expected to last up to three weeks, will focus on ten fracture zones with production potential.
DNO's first horizontal well in the field, Tawke-20, tested 8,000 barrels per day from each of 10 producing intervals in the Cretaceous reservoir and is currently on stream at an average rate of 25,000 bpd.
DNO is also currently drilling two other Tawke horizontal development wells in the autonomous region, Tawke-21 and Tawke-22.
In its latest operations update, DNO said it is also drilling the highly deviated Benenan-4 well in the Erbil license, which is designed to appraise the additional reserves encountered in the Benenan field by the Benenan-3 well earlier this year.
Benenan-3 has been completed and temporary production facilities installed, pending government approval to commence sales.
The Bastora-2 well in the Erbil license has been completed and temporary production facilities are undergoing installation.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has authorised sales from the Bastora field, with first deliveries anticipated in October.
Meanwhile in the UAE, DNO has concluded the drilling of the Saleh-8 well offshore Ras Al Khaimah.
The 5,205m well, including a 327m horizontal section, was drilled into the Thamama reservoir and delivered initial rates of 15mn cubic feet of natural gas and 1,000 barrels of condensate per day.
The well then exhibited a decline in flowing wellhead pressure and rates along with increasing water production.
Saleh-8 will be tied into the existing infrastructure to enable production and pressure monitoring.
In the interim, artificial lift studies will be undertaken on the partially depleted upper Wasia reservoir.
An exploration well is set to be drilled to the east of the Saleh field by another operator in 2014, in which DNO will hold a 16 per cent.
In Yemen, DNO announced that the Salsala-1 exploration well has drilled through the primary Shugra formation target prospect in Block 32.
The well has reached 3,840m and is currently being logged and samples taken before resumption of drilling to a depth of 4,100m.
