London-headquartered SDX Energy, an oil company with focus on North Africa, said that  a  gas  discovery  has  been  made  at  its  SD-3X  well  in  the  South  Disouq  Concession,  Egypt.

The  SD-3X  well  was  drilled  to  a  total  depth  of  7,842  feet  and  encountered  32.6  feet  of  net  conventional natural gas pay in the Abu Madi and Kafr el Sheik horizons, with an average porosity in the pay sections of 21.7 per cent.

The  SD-3X  well  will  now  be  completed  as  a  producer  in  the  Abu  Madi  horizon  and  then  tested  after  the drilling rig has moved off location, a company statement said.

In order to optimise the potential recovery from the SD-3X well, the Abu Madi horizon will be completed and produced initially before re-entering the well to complete and produce the Kafr el Sheik horizon.

The Abu Madi testing is anticipated to commence between 30 and 45 days after the rig departs, depending on the availability of testing equipment.  Assuming a successful test in the Abu Madi, it is anticipated that the well will be connected to the infrastructure located adjacent to the original SD-1X discovery, where production start-up is anticipated late in the 4th quarter of 2018.

Paul Welch, president and CEO of SDX, said: “The discovery of gas in both the Abu Madi and Kafr el Sheik horizons is a very positive outcome for the SD-3X well.  As demonstrated by the Ibn Yunus discovery earlier this year, the Kafr el Sheik horizon is an excellent quality productive sequence. The SD-3X discovery has confirmed that this horizon is extensively present throughout the concession.

Welch said the company  will  now  analyse  the  data  from  all  four  wells  drilled  in  the  South  Disouq campaign,  as  well  as reprocessing and inverting the existing 3D seismic we have on the concession.

“Upon interpretation of this data, and completion of the new 3D survey later this year, we expect to identify further Abu Madi and Kafr el Sheik prospectivity for drilling in 2019 and 2020. With our drilling activities completed, we will now focus on the completion of the South Disouq processing facility and pipeline infrastructure with a view to achieving first production by the end of 2018,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service