Tullow Oil’S Shimela-1 well in the South Omo Block, onshore Ethiopia, has encountered water-bearing reservoirs making the spudding a loss to the Africa focused oil explorer.
Shimela-1 well in the South Omo Block lies on the Chew Bahir basin.
Tullow says it drilled the well to test a prospect in a northwestern sub-basin of the vast Chew Bahir basin.
The well encountered lacustrine and volcanic rocks, including almost 330 feet of net sandstone reservoir within siltstones and claystones. Trace thermogenic gas shows were recorded at 6,235 feet.
The Exalo 205 rig used to drill Shimela-1 will now be moved to drill the Gardim-1 wildcat exploration well in a completely separate sub-basin, in the southeastern corner of the Chew Bahir basin.
Tullow Exploration Director Angus McCoss commented in a company statement:
“Although the Shimela well only found traces of thermogenic gas, it has provided key data to continue to build our understanding of the north-western part of the Chew Bahir basin. The prospectivity at the Gardim-1 well, which is targeting an independent petroleum system in a separate south-eastern sub-basin, is not affected by this result.”
