WesternZagros Resources Ltd. has received encouraging results from a recently completed study of the drill cuttings from its Kurdamir-1 well utilizing advanced technology. The study, by Weatherford Laboratories in Houston, confirmed the potential of a gross oil and gas interval over 1,900 metres thick in the Kurdamir-1 well. These results significantly increase the Company's confidence of encountering oil in the Eocene and Cretaceous reservoirs in the upcoming Kurdamir-2 well, which would add to the oil already encountered in the Oligocene reservoir.
WesternZagros expects Kurdamir-2 to be spudded in the fourth quarter of 2011 on the Company's Kurdamir Block, which is operated by Talisman. Kurdamir-2 is located approximately two kilometres away from Kurdamir-1 and will target the Oligocene, Eocene and Cretaceous reservoirs on the flank of the structure where the combined potential oil interval is likely at maximum thickness. The combined audited mean estimate for all three reservoirs is 585 million barrels of prospective oil resources as at January 14, 2011.
The advanced geochemical study was comprised of both Total Scanning Fluorescence (TSF) and Thermal Extraction Gas Chromatography (TEGC) analyses of approximately 100 drill-cutting samples and six oil and condensate samples from the Kurdamir-1 well. TSF is a technique applied to organic solvents from drill cuttings by exciting a sample using UV light and measuring its fluorescence intensity. TEGC provides a rapid automated determination of hydrocarbon compounds. In combination, these techniques can differentiate between oil and gas in potential reservoirs.
"This is a further positive step in our evaluation of the potentially large oil intervals of the Kurdamir discovery," said Simon Hatfield, WesternZagros's Chief Executive Officer. "We are excited by the upcoming opportunity for the Kurdamir-2 well to test the potential for over 580 million barrels of recoverable oil in the Oligocene, Eocene and Cretaceous reservoirs."