Arakis Announces Umm Sagura Drilling Results
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS
CALGARY, ALBERTA--Arakis Energy Corporation (NASDAQ: AKSEF) announced testing
results today on its Umm Sagura 10d exploration well in the Sudan. Following a successful drilling
program delineating last years discoveries at El Toor and Toma South and leading to a new oil
discovery at El Nar, the exploration program shifted to a highly potential area on the eastern edge
of the Muglad Basin, 22 kilometers east of the Unity Field. The Umm Sagura area consists of a
series of four regional exploration fairways bounded by major fault blocks. Because of the
complex geology, many exploration wells will be required to evaluate the potential of the Umm
Sagura area. The first Umm Sagura well was located on the northern end of one such structure, on
the westernmost fairway. This structure as presently mapped consists of a major fault bounded
trend 30 kilometers in length.
The Umm Sagura 10d well was drilled to a total depth of 2,445 meters and was cased based on
excellent shows encountered while drilling and on preliminary log analysis. It was decided to test
four zones of the well, two in the Bentiu formation and two in the Zarqa, the latter being one of the
currently producible formations in the Unity field.
In the Zarqa zone, the company encountered 16 meters of net pay. The lower sand was
perforated and flowed dry oil to surface. The upper sand also tested dry oil, however, studies
showed a poor cement bond and water broke through before definite flow rates could be
established. Although communication with a water zone prevented extensive testing, the well is
important in establishing the presence of a significant Zarqa oil bearing zone in the Umm Sagura
area. Results of Bentiu testing were disappointing with the zone testing water, however, residual oil
saturation indicated on side wall cores show that the Bentiu zone once hosted hydrocarbons over
a large gross interval. The geology in the Umm Sagura area is very complex and additional drilling
will be required to evaluate the potential of the area.
The drilling rig then moved five kilometers east, drilled and cased the Umm Sagura E 35c well to
test a new exploration fairway. Testing of Umm Sagura E 35c has commenced. The drilling rig has
moved to the Ghazal exploration location southeast of Heglig. A second rig is currently drilling the
El Mahafir prospect located about 12 kilometers southwest of the Heglig field. The Ghazal and El
Mahafir locations will target an extensive new tertiary trend that extends into the Kaikang
exploration area. A third drilling rig spudded the El Sadeeq 58B well on May 2, 1997 and a fourth
drilling rig has arrived in country and is currently being rigged up at a new exploration location. |
