afrol News, 1 July - The Qasr appraisal wells in Egypt's Khalda gas concession are proving more and more productive. A third successful appraisal well has now encountered large columns of condensates, making Qasr one of the largest onshore gas discoveries in the world during the last few years.

The Texas-based oil and gas company Apache today announced these new developments on the Khalda gas field. The Egyptian Qasr-5 appraisal well had "successfully extended the Qasr field to the southwest, further confirming the overall seismic structure of the field," an Apache statement said. Qasr is in the Khalda Concession, which the company operates with a 100 percent contractor interest.

The Qasr-5 appraisal well had encountered a 152-meter gross sand column with 148 meter of net pay and a similar gas/water contact seen in the prior three Qasr wells, the statement said. This is the third successful appraisal well that has encountered a net productive sand column greater than 135 meter.

Located approximately 5 kilometres southwest of the Qasr-1X field discovery well, the Qasr-5 had tested at a rate of 53.5 million cubic feet (MMcf) of gas and 1,739 barrels (Bbls) of condensate per day, Apache announched. A total of 32 meter of sand at the bottom of the reservoir had been perforated at different depths.

- Qasr is certainly the largest onshore gas discovery in Apache's history and is one of the larger onshore hydrocarbon discoveries in the world in the last couple of years, commented Apache President Steven Farris.

The US company recently signed a 25-year, 300-MMcf-per-day gas sales agreement with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, which opens for the long-term production of the Qasr gas reserves. In addition, "condensate recovery from the field is expected to be in the 40-million- to 50-million-barrel range," the Apache statement says.

The company is currently drilling the Qasr-6 appraisal well in the far northwest extension of the field and plans to drill the Qasr-4 later this year to test the northeast extension of the field.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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