News Release Issued: November 21, 2011 9:10 AM EST
PetroMagdalena setting casing to test the Yaraqui-1X exploratory well
TORONTO, Nov. 21, 2011 /CNW/ - PetroMagdalena Energy Corp. (TSXV: PMD) announced today the end of drilling operations at the Yaraqui-1X well, located in the Topoyaco block, in the foothills of the Putumayo Basin in Southern Colombia, where the Company has a 50% beneficial working interest. The well was drilled to a total depth of 10,651 feet measured depth (MD), having drilled through the Tertiary and Cretaceous section and penetrating 61 feet into the pre-Cretaceous basement. This well was drilled as part of the original work commitment with the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH). Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. holds the remaining 50% beneficial working interest and is the operator for this block, in both cases subject to ANH approval.
The operator is currently preparing to run casing and will proceed to test the well. This evaluation will allow the Company to determine the quality of oil and production potential for the Topoyaco subthrust prospect and to update the evaluation of resources present in the trap.
Luciano Biondi, Chief Executive Officer of the Company commented: "We are cautiously optimistic that the information provided by the mud logging and wireline logs from the well indicate the potential of the sub-thrust play on the Topoyaco block and, if testing is successful, this is a major discovery for our Company."
The well was spudded on August 31, 2011, and was drilled directionally with a southeast-northwest orientation, in a monocline structure against the sub-thrust of the basin bounding fault, and referred to as structure "D". This structure covers an area of approximately 4,500 acres.
According to the petrophysical evaluation of the logs, the well encountered what is interpreted as 142 feet of potential hydrocarbon bearing sandstones, distributed among the base of the Rumiyaco Formation, and in the Villeta and Caballos Formations, all of which have proven to be commercial reservoirs elsewhere in the basin. In the Rumiyaco Formation, the "Arena Neme" sandstone unit was encountered at 9,714 feet MD (8,801 feet true vertical depth (TVD)) with 20 feet of log indicated net pay with a porosity of 10%. In the Villeta Formation, the pay units were found at 9,748 feet MD (8,828 feet TVD), with a total of 120 feet of potential oil pay: 10 feet in the M2 sandstones encountered at 10,110 feet MD (9,126 feet TVD), 40 feet in the "U" sandstones (10,252 feet MD and 9,201 feet TVD) and 70 feet in the "T" sandstones (10,354 feet MD and 9,327 feet TVD). The "U" sands have average porosities of 10% while the "T" sands have porosities in the order of 11%. In the Caballos Formation, found at 10,510 feet MD (9,458 feet TVD), a total of 2 feet of potential pay was found, with porosities of 11%.