Namibia: HRT finds noncommercial oil at Walvis well

HRT Participacoes em Petroleo SA, Rio de Janeiro, said its Wingat-1 well on Block 2212 in the Walvis basin offshore Namibia found noncommercial amounts of oil and is being plugged. Total depth is 5,000 m in 1,005 m of water.

The main objective of the well was to test the resource potential of the Albian age carbonate platform, which was penetrated at targeted depth, but its reservoir quality is much less developed than expected.

Wingat was planned to be drilled to 4,127 m but because of the potential to drill deeper to test the presence of turbidite reservoirs and the opportunity to penetrate and sample the main source rock, the consortium decided to go deeper. Supporting the decision were increasing concentrations of hydrocarbon shows present below 1,500 m.

From the well's data, HRT has identified two well-developed source rocks rich in organic carbon. Both are in the oil-generating window.

The well also encountered several oil-saturated, thin-bedded-sandy reservoirs. HRT collected four 450-cc samples of this oil. Analysis indicates the presence of light oil of 38o to 42o gravity with minimal contamination. No water-bearing zones were identified in the drilled section.

The fact that the source rock is in the oil window and generating liquid hydrocarbons of excellent quality confirms the source potential of the basin, HRT said. As such, the results provide important information that will help calibrating and guiding HRT's next exploratory steps in the basin. The source rocks present in the well can charge reservoir intervals of other prospects identified in the license, including the Murombe prospect, which will be drilled next.

Murombe, to spud in late May 15 km west of Wingat-1, will test a Cretaceous basin floor fan. It will be the second of three firm wells HRT will drill off Namibia, where HRT is operator of 10 blocks in four licenses. GALP Energia has a 14% interest in the three-well program.