Discoveries fuel optimism in Mongolia

Where Snyder will complete Mongolia wells [121706 bytes]

Snyder Oil Corp.'s SOCO International Inc. expressed encouragement about its exploration results in northeastern Mongolia, where it plans to complete two oil discovery wells soon.

The Fort Worth operator plans to complete the 19-2 well and the 21-1 well in the Tamtsag-Hailar basin from oil pay in a conglomeratic sandstone in the upper part of the Lower Cretaceous-Upper Jurassic Tsagaantsav formation (OGJ, Dec. 7, 1992, p. 41).

SOCO International, operator and major shareholder of SOCO Tamtsag Mongolia Inc. (Sotamo), has installed storage tanks at the 19-2 well and plans to begin oil export sales to China shortly. It also plans to develop sources of winterized equipment to support year round exploration and development operations, said John C. Snyder, SOCO chairman.

"We have acquired over 3,000 km of seismic data and drilled four exploratory wells, two of which are apparent discoveries," Snyder said. The company controls more than 40,000 sq km, an area one third the size of Louisiana.

Indicated discoveries

From its early frontier exploration efforts SOCO believes the Tamtsag basin, a major rift basin with numerous large structures, will become a major producing province, Snyder said.

It plans to complete the Sotamo 19-2 well, drilled in 1995, as a low rate pumping oil well. SOCO stimulated and swabbed the well this summer trying to clean out lost circulation material that caused severe formation damage to Tsagaantsav in an oil show porous interval below 8,860 ft. The well has produced 41° gravity crude at various rates from perforations at 8,865-8,944 ft.

The 21-1 well, drilled in mid-1996 about 60 miles east of the 19-2, will be suspended until completion and production equipment can be delivered. SOCO cored 26 ft of oil saturated conglomeratic sandstone of 18% porosity in Tsagaantsav. It recovered about 886 ft of estimated 32° gravity oil on a 96 hr drillstem test at 6,274.6-6,307.4 ft.

SOCO identified a number of prospects and well locations updip from the 21-1 well that it plans to drill soon.

The 22-1 well, drilled in June-July 1996 to TD 8,589 ft, found no oil shows in the Lower Cretaceous-Upper Jurassic interval but encountered 2,100 ft of 28% porosity sandstone above basement.