SDX Begins 2020 Egyptian Drilling Campaign
North Africa-focused SDX Energy has kicked off a new drilling campaign at its flagship South Disouq gas project in Egypt, it reported in a London stock filing on February 14.
The company has started work on the SD-6X (Salah) well at the field, expected to reach its target depth of 9,000 ft in late March or early April. Its goal is to appraise what SDX's management estimates to be a 71bn ft3 P50 unrisked prospective gas resource.
The well's primary targets are the Kafr el Sheikh and Abu Madi formations - the same structures that SDX has been producing gas from since South Disouq's launch in November.
After completing Salah, SDX will move its rig 6 km west to drill the SD-12X (Sobhi) well, targeting 33bn ft3 of prospective gas, primarily in the Kafr el Sheikh formation at a depth of 7,000 ft.
"Salah and Sobhi are very exciting wells for the company with the potential to more than double the reserves to be processed through the South Disouq gas processing facilities," SDX CEO Mark Reid said in a statement. "We now have three rigs drilling simultaneously in Egypt and Morocco and I look forward to providing further upgrades on these campaigns in due course."
Salah and Sobhi are located just 8 and 5.8 km away respectively from South Disouq's processing facilities. SDX estimates the wells could be tied back at a cost of only $4.4mn, if successful. Two further development wells would be needed to exploit the Salah resource, the company said, while one more would be required at Sobhi.
SDX has a 55% stake in South Disouq, with partner IPR Energy holding the remaining interest.