Kea Petroleum has made an oil discovery in a new sand reservoir at Puka 2 in the lower Mount Messenger "Mako" Sands.

Puka 2 intersected 4.6m of sand with a vertical thickness of approximately 3.3m in the lower Mount Messenger near 1,700m measured depth. Preliminary petrophysical log analysis indicates that this sand has an average oil saturation of 64%, porosity of 25.6% with MDT permeabilities in the order of 75 to 100millidarcies. These porosity and permeability values are amongst the highest recorded in Mount Messenger reservoirs to date. The fact of there being no indication of free gas or water within the sand package allows Kea to progress to casing the well and then to testing as soon as possible thereafter. Due to the quality of the sand intersected in Puka 2, Kea expects to record higher oil flow rates than those recorded at Puka 1.

The importance of the intersection of the lower Mako sands at Puka 2 cannot be overestimated. Interpretation of the recently acquired 3D seismic survey and further follow up drilling will be required to appraise and develop the upper Puka Sands discovered at Puka 1, the lower Mako Sand package discovered at Puka 2 and determine the ultimate size of the entire Puka field.

Tags: Kea Petroleum