Results from a
Four-Year Exploration and Development Effort in the East Bahariya
Concession, Western Desert Province,
Egypt
Bedingfield, John, Gregg Barker, Dave Pivnik, Thomas Maher, Ron Roberts,
David
Phelps, Martin Oldani, Peter Munday, Apache
Egypt Companies, Cairo, Egypt
Apache Egypt
Companies began operations in the East Bahariya
Concession in Egypt’s Western Desert in December, 2000. The concession
is located 170 kilometers southwest of Cairo in
the eastern Abu Gharadig Basin. Prior to assuming operatorship, 9 dry holes and 2 undeveloped oil discoveries
were drilled on the block, all based on 2D seismic data. Since early 2001 to
the end of 2004, Apache has acquired 1,428 square kilometers of very high
quality 3D seismic data processed through pre-stack depth migration.
Exploratory drilling on these 3D data sets has resulted in 18 oil discoveries
out of 21 attempts for an overall success rate of 86%. An additional nine
exploration wells are planned in 2005. This area is structurally complex having
undergone several periods of extension in the Jurassic and Cretaceous and at
least one period of Late Cretaceous – Tertiary compression. Trap sizes are
relatively small but in aggregate constitute a valuable resource. The extensive
use of 3D seismic as an exploration tool has reduced the structural risk to
such an extent that relatively small prospects can be economically pursued and
commercially exploited. The discoveries and resulting development drilling have
yielded 45 oil wells producing over 15,200 BOPD at year-end 2004. The
production is exclusively from Cretaceous sandstones within the Abu Roash and Bahariya Formations at
an average depth of 7,200 feet. We will present the geologic history of the
area and the role of 3D seismic in defining the structural framework and trap
geometries that helped turn this non-producing area into a major contributor to
Egypt’s
oil production.