Sterling has multizone Romania Black Sea gas find

Sterling Resources Ltd., Calgary, said its Midia Resources SRL subsidiary discovered natural gas in two formations and shows in a third at its Eugenia-1 exploratory well on the Pelican block in the Black Sea offshore Romania.

The well, first on the 2,312 sq km Pelican block, went to 2,276 m measured depth, or 2,248 m subsea.

Preliminary log analysis indicates a combined 22 m of gas-bearing late Cretaceous sandstones, mainly in two intervals. Porosity range is 10-20%, and gas saturation is 55-62%.

The sandstone units are in the interval 1,938-2,038 m MD. Formation pressure data and recovered gas samples from open hole logging tools confirm movable gas. Further detailed analysis of logs, pressure data, and samples is under way.

In addition to the late Cretaceous sandstones, a further 20-m zone of interest is evident in an Eocene limestone section at 1,900-38 m. The interval was drilled with gas shows, but attempts to collect pressure data were unsuccessful although this is not an uncommon occurrence in carbonates where matrix porosity is limited.

Sterling will analyze logs to determine if the Eocene limestone could be gas bearing and producible as was the case in the adjacent Olimpiyskaya well.

A third, shallower but high-risk objective of the well was to test the stratigraphy of a large Oligocene slump or fan structure as outlined by seismic.

Even though Sterling drilled Eugenia-1 at a downdip location to enable drilling of the deeper Eocene and Late Cretaceous main objectives from the same well location, 100 m of good quality sandstones with some minor gas shows were encountered, rendering the Oligocene structure as an interesting prospect updip of the current well, the company said.

Midia Resources is operator of the Midia and Pelican blocks with 65% working interest. Petro Ventures Europe BV has 20%, and Gas Plus International BV has 15%.