Gran Tierra Energy Inc. is fast-tracking exploration and development of all its Ecuadorian blocks, starting with a flow test of the Arawana-J1 oil discovery.
Gran Tierra has run and cemented production casing on Arawana-J1 and perforated over 23.5 ft of reservoir in the Basal Tena oil zone. A jet pump was run and the well produced 20° API gravity oil at 1,174 b/d of oil for over 48 hr with less than 1% water cut and a gas-oil ratio (GOR) of 258 std. cu ft/stock tank bbl (scf/stb). The well continues to clean-up, and over the past 12 hr it has produced at stabilized rates of 1,358 bo/d and 239 scf/stb GOR.
The rig that drilled Arawana-J1 has moved to the Bocachico Norte-J1 well cellar, and the Bocachico Norte-J1 well was spudded on May 24. It is the second exploration well in the 2024 exploration plan and will test both the deeper T-Sandstone and Basal Tena prospectivity. The well is drilling ahead at about 6,670 ft to an expected total depth of about 10,800 ft.
Following drilling and completion of Bocachico Norte-J1, the rig will move to Charapa block to drill three exploration wells. Once this phase is complete, the rig will return to the Chanangue block to drill exploration wells Zabaleta-K1 and Zabaleta Oeste-K1 from the K pad.
The Zabaleta wells are positioned up dip from Arawana-J1 and on the structural high, potentially leading to discoveries in the vertically stacked intervals of the Basal Tena, U-Sand, T-Sand, and Hollin high permeability sandstones.
Cohembi field, in Colombia’s South Putumayo basin, is an analogue for Arawana and lies 20 km to the north. Cohembi produces from the N-sands, the geologic equivalent of the Basal Tena at the Arawana field area. The closure, thickness, rock, and fluid properties are similar. One notable difference in the Arawana field area is a higher gas-oil ratio providing a lower oil viscosity. Estimated ultimate gross proved plus probable original recoverable reserves in Cohembi are 82 million bbl.
Gran Tierra is 100% owner and operator of wells Arawana-J1, Bocachico Norte-J1, Zabaleta-K1, Zabaleta Oeste-K, and Charapa block.
Alex Procyk | Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).