Cooper Energy Limited, on behalf of the Bargou Joint Venture, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a legally binding Letter of Intent with Grup Servicii Petroliere SA (GSP) with respect to the rig contract for the jackup rig “GPS Jupiter” to drill the Hammamet West-3 well, offshore Tunisia. Planning is on the basis of drilling commencing in December 2012. However, this is dependent on when the rig is released from its previous commitments. It is possible that drilling does not commence until sometime in the March 2013 Quarter.
The Hammamet West oil discovery is located on a large anticlinal feature in the Bargou Exploration Permit, in the Gulf of Hammamet, offshore Tunisia, in water depths of approximately 50 metres. Two vertical wells have so far been drilled on the feature:
- Hammamet West-1 was drilled in 1967 and encountered oil fluorescence in the Tertiary Birsa Sands. Log interpretation indicates that 7 metres of net oil pay is present in the Birsa, which was not tested.
-• Hammamet West-2, drilled in 1990, recovered sub-commercial volumes of oil on test of the Late Cretaceous Abiod Formation.
The results of the two wells indicate the presence of a gross oil column of at least 190 metres in the Abiod Formation within the West Hammamet structure. Hammamet West-3 will be drilled to further assess the oil resource within the Abiod Formation and will initially penetrate the reservoir with a slightly deviated pilot hole. A highly deviated wellbore will then be drilled and tested, to confirm the oil productivity of the Abiod Formation. A secondary target in the Hammamet West-3 well is the Birsa sandstone.
The participants in the Bargou Joint Venture are Cooper Energy Bargou Limited (30% and Operator), Dragon Oil plc (55%) and Jacka Tunisia Bargou Pty Ltd (15%).
David Maxwell (Managing Director, Cooper) said “signing the Letter of Intent is an important and key milestone for the Bargou Joint Venture participants”. He noted that “Cooper’s contribution to the well will be fully funded up to a gross amount of US$26.6 million by Dragon Oil and Jacka Resources who have farmed in to the Bargou Exploration Permit”.
