Roc Oil (China) Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of ROC, and the operator of the exploration wells within WZ6-12 and WZ12-8 West Oil Field Development areas in Beibu Gulf offshore China, advises that the HYSY 931 rig, drilling the WZ6-12N-1 vertical exploration well, has encountered a total of 52m net oil pay in the well’s primary objectives and an additional 7m net oil pay in shallower reservoirs.
The WZ6-12N-1 well is the first well in a three well exploration programme and is located in 29 metres of water and reached a Total Depth (TD) of 1605 metres on 5 October.
The well is located 1 km northeast from the WZ 6-12-1 well and a gross sand thickness of 79 metres was encountered in the Weizhou formation, with a cumulative oil pay of 59 metres. The new discovery of oil in the T32L reservoirs is the thickest reservoir consisting of three sand units with net pay of 46 metres. The shallower T30 and T30D oil zones are additional discoveries and contribute an additional 7 metres of pay. A further 6 metre T31C sand is a now proven field extension of the T31C oil reservoir encountered in the original WZ 6-12-1 well.
After completion of the wireline logging, the well will be plugged and abandoned and the rig will be moved to the A6 exploration location on the WZ 6-12 South field.
Commenting on the well results to date, ROC’s CEO Alan Linn stated that:
“The oil discovery at multiple levels from the WZ6-12N-1 exploration well in both target objectives with additional shallower pay zones is a very positive result and a strong start to our Beibu exploration campaign. The results of the well will materially enhance the value of the overall Beibu project for ROC and its Joint Venture partners. The now larger WZ6-12 North field will be fully developed as part of the combined WZ 6-12 and WZ 12-8W field development, which is currently underway. Provision has been made in the facility design to provide capacity for new oil zones discovered in the exploration drilling program.
The well was drilled within budget, on schedule and demonstrates the supportive and close operating relationship shared between ROC and CNOOC.”
Shares in Roc Oil rose as much as 6 percent on the news.
[mappress] Press Release, October 10, 2012