The Shaikan-3 well will be drilled to 1,100m (depending on well results) and is designed to evaluate and test the Cretaceous age intervals for producible oil volumes.
Much of the Cretaceous interval in Shaikan-1 could not be completely logged, tested or evaluated due to lost circulation and other drilling difficulties, according to the company.
A large percentage of the interval is saturated with various hydrocarbons such as tar and heavy oil and the purpose of the Shaikan-3 well is to further evaluate these hydrocarbon volumes and determine if they are capable of commercial production.
The total pore volume of the Cretaceous age interval is very large and, if the drilling and testing are successful, the presence of readily producible hydrocarbons could add significantly to the 1.9 (P90) to 7.4 (P10) billion barrels of oil in place already discovered in the deeper Jurassic and Triassic formations.
Drilling and testing is expected to take two months.
The company has a 75% working interest in the block.
