Australia's Karoon Energy has said that it has encountered water-bearing sands and non-commercial gas shows at the shallower sections of its Marina-1 well offshore Peru.
Prior to the start of drilling late in January, Karoon had said that the Marina prospect had a gross prospective resource best estimate of 256 million barrels of oil (net to Karoon 102 million barrels). The prospect comprises a large fault-bounded structure with targets at multiple levels from 900m subsea to 3000m.
In an update on Tuesday, Karoon said that the well had drilled down to a depth of 1654 meters MD.
"The 13 3/8 inch casing has been run with the forward plan to drill the primary targets of the Tumbes and Cardalitos formations where multiple target levels have been identified over a 1400m interval," Karoon said.
"The shallower sections of La Cruz and Mal Pelo formations were encountered down to 1654m MD and preliminary logging results indicate that the well encountered water-bearing sands and some gas shows in thin beds which are not considered to be commercial. The information obtained from the shallow sections provides insights into similar in the deeper waters," Karoon added.
The company said that the La Cruz and Mel Pelo results were independent of the deeper primary targets. The total drilling operation is estimated to take 30 days and shall drill to approximately 2994m TVDSS.
Karoon’s owns a 40% operating interest in the Block Z‐38 containing the well, with Tullow Oil plc holding 35% and Pitkin Petroleum holding the remaining 25% equity interest. The Marina-1 well is being drilled using the Stena Forth drillship.
Given that the Marina-1 well is first ever to be drilled in the offshore block, Karoon has previously said that information derived from the well would be important in evaluating the other prospects and leads in Z-38 license, with over a billion barrels in gross prospective resources.