TAG Oil today reports that re-entry and installation of the completion string at the BED 1-7 well has been successfully completed. 

The re-entry operation included installation of a new well-head assembly, removal of the old tubing string and dual packer assembly, isolation of previously perforated upper reservoir layers in the Abu-Roash formation and cleaning the well down to base depth at approximately 3,250 m. After conditioning the wellbore, a new completion string was installed in the open-hole section of the well across the Abu-Roash “F” (“ARF”) formation in preparation for hydraulic fracture stimulation. Indications of reservoir pressure and oil content were evident during completion activities with samples of ARF oil recovered to surface and high pressures in the formation identified to be close to original reservoir pressures. 

The next steps on BED 1-7 include perforation and diagnostic fracture injectivity testing (“DFIT”) of the ARF formation to identify natural fracture matrix characteristics through pressure build-up and leak-off profiles during the DFIT. This will be followed by evaluating the potential of the ARF in the vertical completion through hydraulic fracturing, flow-back and stabilized production performance. The fracture stimulation will be one of the largest pumped in Egypt; specifically, a water-based system with greater than 100 tons of proppant and 4,000 barrels of water injected at high pressures and pump rates. 

The Company currently expects the remaining work on BED 1-7 to be completed by mid-April and to release the well’s initial daily production data by the end of April. 

Planning for the first horizontal well (“T100”) is currently under-way with the site identified and lease build commencement scheduled for April. Work has progressed to secure a suitable drilling rig for the one well program in 2023, with updated spud now projected in the summer of 2023 to allow sufficient time to assess and incorporate performance from BED 1-7 and on-going 3D seismic review and geo-mechanical studies into the T100 new drill design. 

TAG Oil anticipates completion of the T100 in Q3 2023 and bringing the well on stabilized production in Q4 2023. 

Toby Pierce, TAG Oil’s CEO commented,
“While the re-entry and completion operation has taken longer than forecast due to the procedural steps necessary for contracting of the various services in Egypt, the project remains on budget and has also provided valuable information required for planning our first horizontal well. I would like to thank our team, our Egyptian partners, and EGPC for their hard work to get us to this point.” 

KeyFacts Energy: TAG Oil Egypt country profile