RE: According to PokerchampAside from just re-printing 2 month old information from the article, here is the whole section on Kurdistan, the rest of which is very pertinent today as it was 2 months ago. The colouring is mine.
How much potential do you see in the percentage of your block in Kurdistan?
FC. Groundstar Resources considers the Qara Dagh block as a high impact project for our Company. The structure is a large surface anticline similar to the one on which Heritage drilled its Miran West #1 well in 2009. Four or more distinct oil bearing reservoir sequences are found in fields in this region creating the conditions for giant-super giant fields as attested by the super giant Kirkuk Oil Field about 50 km to the NNW of the Niko-Vast-Groundstar Qara Dagh block.
Miran West #1 intersected 1100 metres of oil shows in 3 main reservoir sequences in Cretaceous carbonates. Subsequent testing and formation evaluation indicated a flow potential of 8000 to 10,000 bopd and ooip (original oil in place) of about 3.4 b bbl for the structure. Miran West #2 is presently being drilled and has encountered oil shows over 1800 metres in the Cretaceous carbonates and is continuing down to 4000+ metres to the Jurassic-Triassic formations (2009 Annual Report on Heritage Oil website) where additional hydrocarbon bearing reservoir sequences may be found.
Qara Dagh #1 is currently at a drilling depth of about 1600 metres and is intended to be drilled to a total depth of about 4000 metres. Multiple stacked oil bearing sequences similar to wells in the surrounding blocks are the drilling objectives in this well.
The potential upside of the oil resources that could be encountered in the Qara Dagh structure enhance Groundstar's small (six percent) percentage of the total project. Six percent of a little is very little; but six per cent of a lot is a lot of oil. Since fields in this region can easily contain a billion barrels of recoverable oil, the potential reserves for the company from a major discovery at Qara Dagh can easily been seen. Since our company is debt free, any profit oil from the production would be income, thus enhancing value to the shareholders.
What are the main challenges you face from a geology and drilling point of view in the Middle East?
FC. First of all Groundstar is only involved in onshore exploration projects. So, we will consider the two questions; geology and drilling challenges, from this perspective.
Drilling in Upper Egypt necessitates access into a desert area a significant distance from infrastructure. The size of the WKO block presents a formidable challenge from an exploration and access perspective. Roads will need to be built and the wells, initially at least, designed with a minimum of subsurface information. We will be learning as we drill and, no doubt, will encounter challenges along the way. Flexibility and the ability to adjust to new challenges will be needed, especially at the outset.
Kurdistan presents major geological and drilling challenges of a different kind. The surface geology of the Qara Dagh block was carefully analysed from Landsat imagery. Wells and fields in the surrounding region of Kurdistan were input into the subsurface model constructed from seismic lines. From this data the prognosis for the drilling objectives and their depths was derived. Even though drilling has been done in Kurdistan for many years the subsurface stratigraphy still presents challenges and surprises. Western Zagros encountered serious borehole problems caused by overpressure in their Kurdamir #1 well resulting in significant time and cost overruns.
Although Qara Dagh is outside the Zagros Mountains it is still a remote mountainous terrain. The limbs of the surface anticline are comprised of steep cliffs bordered by talus slopes, which those conducting the seismic programme had to traverse. The rig had to be brought along an access road into the core of the anticline and to a pad constructed on one of the talus slopes. The drilling pad required the removal of about 400,000 m3 of rock to level the talus slope and build the cement pad where the rig is now drilling.
Fortunately for the explorationist this part of the Kurdistan region is a prolific oil province where four or more regionally extensive reservoir horizons and their seals can be encountered in the same well. Hole conditions sometimes makes progress slow as in the case of Qara Dagh, but the potential rewards of the favourable geology far outweigh the minor delays encountered.