Dana Petroleum says that drilling and wireline logging operations have now been successfully completed on the Akhenaton-1 exploration well in the South October concession, offshore Gulf of Suez, Egypt.

The well was drilled to a total depth of 13,322 feet below sea-level, penetrating both the primary and secondary targets. The top of the secondary Thebes target was encountered at 11,704 feet below sea-level and the primary Nubia target was encountered at 13,087 feet.

A full suite of electrical wireline logs has been acquired, including the use of a formation imaging tool. Although the Nubia was water bearing, oil was encountered in the shallower Thebes and Sudr formations with high oil saturations seen over an extensive vertical interval of 893 feet.

The Thebes and Sudr formations are low porosity fractured limestones and an imaging tool was therefore used to gather information on the extent of fracturing. A thorough interpretation of the acquired data will now be required before an assessment can be made of the commercial viability of this oil discovery.

The well has been suspended for potential re-entry at a later date. The data from Akhenaton-1 is also important for assessing further prospectivity in the South October concession, including the planned drilling of the Nefertiti prospect.

Following the completion of operations on Akhenaton-1, the IO3 drilling rig will move to the South-East July concession in the Gulf of Suez where Dana will operate the drilling of the South July-1 well.

Tags: Dana Petroleum