Gulf Keystone Petroleum announced that drilling of the RM-1 exploration well on the Hassi Ba Hamou Permit (HBH Permit) in Algeria has been completed and tested. The RM-1 well, which was started on 7 May 2008, reached a total depth of 1,111 metres on a separate prospect some 50 kilometers to the southeast of the HBH gas field. Gas shows during drilling and logging results indicate a 61 meter gas column has been encountered in sands of Siegenian age. During a production test the well flowed gas at a stabilised flow rate of 10,266 cubic meters per hour (8.7 mmscf per day) through a 94/64-inch choke.
With the success of RM-1, GKP has agreed to go into the second prospecting period of the HBH Permit with a work programme obligation of 500 km2 of 3D seismic, 1 exploration well and 2 appraisal wells.
The drilling rig will now move to drill well FEG-1, the third and final exploration well to be drilled, and the fourth well in the current six well drilling campaign. This well is expected to spud within a month. No further announcement on the FEG-1 well is planned until the well has been completed.
The HBH Permit, which contains the HBH gas field, was awarded in April 2005. It comprises five blocks within an area of 18,380 square kilometres in the Bechar Basin in Algeria's Western Desert.
