Oil and gas group SOCO International (LON:SIA) is preparing to plug and abandon the wildcat exploration well Nganga 1 in the Nganzi Block, onshore the Democratic Republic of Congo, after assessments found that the target sands were predominantly water-bearing.
Nganga 1 was drilled to 2,175 metres measured depth and encountered approximately 500 metres of source rock with significant hydrocarbon shows and approximately 245 metres of good quality porous sand with an average porosity of around 17.5% in the primary target. However, petrophysical interpretation of the logs acquired across the reservoir interval indicates that these sands are water bearing. SOCO said the predicted lateral seal for the reservoir horizon was not present because of the change in the basin margin adjacent to the well location which can now be seen to have provided a local sediment entry point for sands. The next well in SOCO’s drilling programme lies in a different part of the basin with a different margin geometry, is further away from this localised sand and is not expected to be impacted by it.
Ed Story, the president and chief executive of SOCO, said: “This first well in a previously undrilled and unknown basin has confirmed the existence of a working hydrocarbon system, demonstrated the presence of mature source rock and found a high quality reservoir, which is hugely important. These findings should improve the odds on the Kinganga Nyanya well on Prospect D.”
Earlier this week, SOCO reported that an appraisal well being drilled on its Te Giac Den field offshore Vietnam had encountered hydrocarbons in a clastics sequence at approximately 4,450 metres measured depth. The TGD-2X is being drilled on a sole risk basis and is targeting reserves (P50) of around 100 million barrels in the supravolcanics interval that was briefly tested in a initial discovery well.
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