Vintage Petroleum, Inc. announced today that the An Nagyah #17 well in the Republic of Yemen has tested light (43 degree API) oil from the subsalt Upper Lam formation. The well is the fifth horizontal well drilled in the company’s An Nagyah field. The An Nagyah #17 well was drilled horizontally to a total measured depth of 6,779 feet (2,066 meters) and was completed in 1,887 feet (575 meters) of gross oil bearing Lam section.
The interval was tested at a stabilized, water free rate of 3,250 barrels per day of oil, 1.8 million cubic feet per day of natural gas flowing at 480 pounds per square inch tubing pressure on a 48/64 inch choke. Two additional wells are planned to be drilled during the remainder of 2005. With testing completed at the An Nagyah #17 well, the drilling rig is moving approximately two miles to the An Nagyah #18 location to drill a horizontal Lower Lam
development well.
All of the An Nagyah field production is being transported via a recently completed 18 mile (28 km) pipeline to a nearby facility for processing and transportation to an export terminal. The pipeline is currently transporting approximately 10,200 gross barrels of oil per day (5,325 net). Daily production from the concession is expected to increase to 11,000 to 12,000 gross barrels of oil (5,750 to 6,250 barrels net) by the end of the month.
Progress continues towards returning to production volumes that were shut-in as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The company expects that all but approximately 1,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or one and one-half percent of the net daily volume produced in the second quarter, will be returned to production by the end of October.
