Apache Corporation along with partner, Total, lands on a significant oil discovery at the Maka Central-1 well drilled on Block 58 offshore Suriname.
The well was drilled using the Gusto P10,000 2014 built drillship ‘Noble Sam Croft’ with Apache Corporation as operator holding a 50% working interest and Total holding, recently acquired 50% working interest.
Block 58 is located on trend with the prolific discoveries made by ExxonMobil in the adjacent Stabroek block in Guyana.
The drilling operations on the first of three wells, Maka Central – 1 well, commenced in late September with an expected drill time of 30 to 60 days.
In October 2019, Noble Sam Croft’ secured a two of three wells option exercised by Apache, extending the contract to March 2020.
Earlier in December 2019, Apache Corporation decided to modify the rig equipment before going to explore deeper depths of its first exploratory well in Block 58 offshore Suriname.
Apache announced in the recent update that, Maka Central-1 successfully tested for the presence of hydrocarbons in multiple stacked targets and encountered both oil and gas condensate.
The shallower Campanian interval contains 50 meters (164 feet) of net hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir.
Preliminary fluid samples and test results indicate light oil and gas condensate with API gravities between 40 and 60 degrees.
However, the deeper Santonian interval contains 73 meters (240 feet) of net oil-bearing reservoir. Preliminary fluid samples and tests results indicate API oil gravities between 35 and 45 degrees.
The Maka Central-1 also targeted a third interval, the Turonian, a geologic analogue to oil discoveries offshore West Africa.
Apache and Total will take the Sam Croft drillship to the next wells in Block 58, starting with the Sapakara West prospect, which is located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) southeast of the Maka Central discovery.
According to Total, Block 58 is located on trend with the prolific discoveries in the adjacent Stabroek block in Guyana, operated by ExxonMobil.