Pacific Rubiales Announces Exploration Success at Rubiales Oil Field
Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. announced the results of the latest well drilled in its exploration campaign in the Rubiales and Piriri Blocks, located in the Llanos Basin of Colombia.
The exploratory well, identified as RUB-147, was drilled in the northwestern area of the Rubiales Block in the “Buffer Zone” (a 5 km strip that surrounds the Rubiales and Piriri Blocks). The petrophysical information not only confirmed the discovery of new oil, but also provides evidence of the presence of hydrocarbons in the contiguous Quifa Block.
The well, drilled in the “D” prospect, found the top of the basal sandstones at a depth of 2,914 feet and the oil-water contact at 2,970 feet, resulting in a oil column of 56 feet at the well; since the crest of the structure at prospect D is at 2,904 feet, the resulting total column for the structure is 66 gross feet. The petrophysical evaluation of the well indicates a net pay zone of 35 feet with porosities over 30%. These results, once properly evaluated, will not only extend the known reservoir into this area, but will also give a clear indication of the prospectivity of the Quifa Block, since 25% of the structure discovered by this well stretches into that block. The Quifa Block is an exploratory block in which the company holds 60%, in association with Ecopetrol (40%).
The company has completed well RUB-147 as a vertical producer and is now planning to test the well, which has showed initial rates of 200-250 barrels of oil per day.
Ronald Pantin, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, stated “This discovery adds to our confidence in the Rubiales field, but better still, gives us a very positive view about the exploration potential in the Quifa Block.”
Pacific Rubiales, a Canadian-based company and producer of natural gas and heavy crude oil, owns 100 percent of Meta Petroleum Limited, a Colombian oil operator which operates the Rubiales and Piriri oil fields in the Llanos Basin in association with Ecopetrol S.A., the Colombian national oil company. The company is focused on identifying opportunities primarily within the eastern Llanos Basin of Colombia as well as in other areas in Colombia and northern Peru. Pacific Rubiales has a current net production of approximately 22,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with working interests in the Rubiales, Piriri and Quifa concessions and the Caguan, Dindal, Rio Seco, Puli B, La Creciente, Moriche, Guama, Arauca, Tacacho and Jagueyes blocks in Colombia and blocks 135, 137 and 138 in Peru.
Boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A boe conversion ratio of 6 mcf:1 bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.
