Touchstone Exploration Inc has encountered substantial hydrocarbon accumulations as the company has announced that it has completed drilling the Royston-1 exploration well.
In a statement the company explained accumulations were based on drilling and wireline log data.
Touchstone said Royston-1 was drilled to a total depth of 10,700 feet, being the deepest exploration well drilled by Touchstone to date.
“The Royston-1 well was the fifth and final well of the first phase of our exploration drilling programme on the Ortoire block, with logging data indicating better than expected results,” the company’s president and chief executive officer Paul Baay said.
He said the amount of identified hydrocarbon pay further verifies the opportunity in the block for the company’s future phase two exploration programme.
“Prior to drilling, we targeted 200 feet of gross sand pay, with results almost doubling our expectations,” he added.
Pay is an expression used in hydrocarbon mining. It denotes a portion of a reservoir that contains economically recoverable hydrocarbons.
Baay said the company had started planning production testing operations in the Herrera Formation using the same equipment that verified the Cascadura discovery.
“With the assistance of the new seismic and upcoming production testing data, we anticipate this to be the largest geological structure identified on the block in the Herrera Formation,” he added.
James Shipka, the company’s chief operating officer also noted that the Royston-1 well has delivered on all accounts.
He said this confirms that the world-class Ortoire Herrera Fairway is well developed through the Royston structure, and most importantly, verifying the presence of hydrocarbons within these targeted Herrera Formation sands.
Touchstone has an 80 per cent operating working interest in the well, which is located on the Ortoire block onshore in T&T. Heritage Petroleum Company Ltd holds the remaining 20 per cent working interest.