Incremental Petroleum Ltd. says that eight exploration licences in Central Turkey have recently been awarded. These licences significantly enhance Incremental's exploration opportunities with significant oil and gas upside.

A number of prospects and leads have already been identified from geological and geophysical studies. All licences are located within the under-explored Tuz Golu Basin, south of Ankara. The large basin is significantly under-explored, with only fifteen deep wells. Shows of oil and gas have been noted in most of the wells, and both oil and gas has been tested at sub-commercial rates.

A number of significant prospects have already been identified from old seismic data.

The ‘Ernest’ prospect is situated 4 km updip of a well with gas shows. This well was drilled into the caprock of the underlying reservoir system and therefore did not encounter producible hydrocarbons. The potential reservoir in the ‘Ernest’ structure is characterized by thick stacked sandstone and shale sequences with potential to reservoir a trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas or 150 million barrels of oil.

Oil prospect ‘Wesley’ is a shallow anticlinal trend adjacent to a number of oil seeps, with tar formation (biodegraded oil) interpreted as the sealing mechanism for the prospect. Several analogue billion barrel oilfields exist in other parts of the world with a similar seal and geometry. Further work is required to evaluate the volume of hydrocarbon fill in this and adjacent structures, but the potential is in excess of 500 million barrels.

The excellent fiscal regime in Turkey, plus the location of these concessions in the vicinity of the energy-hungry city of Ankara suggests that even a small oil or gas discovery in this area will be commercial.

Gerry McGann, Incremental’s managing Director said “the granting of the bulk of this untapped basin with substantial prospectivity plus the new major US acquisitions together provide substantial engines for the growth of Incremental within the next 3-5 years. These new projects have the potential to build on and then surpass Incremental’s Selmo oilfield production base"

Incremental currently hold 100% in each concession. A US based group will uptake a 50% interest in this project subject to certain conditions, including specialist technical services, some funding and meeting regulatory requirements. Incremental and the new partner plan to farmout much of the ongoing work and expenditure on these prospects, and expect the ongoing seismic and well work to be completed at no significant cost to either party.

Tags: Incremental Petroleum