Tarach 1 Well Now classified as Dry – CEPSA

The Tarach 1 well drilled in April 2016 was dry as earlier reported by OilNews Kenya according to the latest SEC filing by joint venture partner ERHC.

“Operator analysis of the results if the Tarach-1 well shows that it did not encounter any reservoirs. The operator has therefore classified Tarach-1 a dry well.”

ERHC says the well has since been plugged and abandoned as OilNews Kenya reported in June.

Despite the commissioner for petroleum Martin Heya at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum having disclosed to OilNews Kenya that the well drilled in Kenya’s Block 11A was dry ERHC in November went ahead to declare that the well encountered significant oil shows and highly-elevated gas readings.

“We are yet to get the technical details from Compania Espanola de Petroleos (CEPSA) although we already have word that Tarach-1 was a dry well,” Heya told OilNews Kenya in September two months prior to the announcement by ERHC.

According to the September announcement ERHC reported that Tarach-1 well encountered two different hydrocarbon charged intervals, the first extending over 100 meters terming the results as encouraging.

Earlier another source had told OilNews Kenya that the results from the well were disappointing without offering any further details.

Tarach 1 was drilled from a 20-inch surface casing through intermediate casings down to 2,442 meters and set a seven-inch liner down to total depth (TD) of 3,000 meters with the Tarach-1 prospect’s mean estimate of oil prospective unrisked resources earlier estimated at 66 million barrels.

This new revelation could throw the future participation of CEPSA into doubt with the Spanish explorer having said it would only get involved in a second well in case of a hydrocarbons find in the first well. Already CEPSA has taken Kenya off its list of countries it holds licenses on its website. A source at the ministry of energy has however revealed that CEPSA has not informed the government of its exit from the block with indications being that the company could restart activity after the general elections possibly in September.

The filings further show that the well could have cost ERHC higher than the $4.5 million earlier reported with the company disclosing it was $9,635,637 in arrears of part of its proportionate share of drilling expenses for Kenya Block 11A.

“As of December 31, 2016, the Company was $9,635,637 in arrears of part of its proportionate share of drilling expenses for Kenya Block 11A and therefore in default from May 2016 of its obligation to CEPSA. The drilling expenses are for the Tarach-1 exploratory well which was completed on Kenya Block 11A in summer 2016.”

The block is operated by CEPSA with 55 percent interest. State-run National Oil Corporation of Kenya (NOCK) and US-based corporation ERHC share the remaining stake, with 10 percent and 35 percent respectively.