Touchstone Exploration finds light oil at Royston-1 exploration well

Touchstone Exploration Inc has made a light oil discovery in the lowermost section of its Royston-1 exploration well and is hopeful of future developments in the area.

In a media statement on Monday, Touchstone Exploration said the test was the first of three planned production tests at the well in which there appeared to be a hydrocarbon pay based on mud gas logging and open hole logs.

The Royston-1 exploration well was initially drilled on August 12 at a total depth of 10,700 feet. The company said drilling samples and open hole wireline logs showed the well encountered a significant Herrera turbidite package with a total observed thickness of more than 1,000 feet.

President and CEO Paul Baay said the discovery showed potential for future development opportunities in the Royston area because light oil can be easily and economically developed alongside any gas development.

“The initial test confirms the large hydrocarbon column in the well, and we interpret the following two primary testing targets to be liquids rich natural gas. These results exceed pre-test expectations, as a flowing light oil opportunity with significant development potential from the bottom 100 feet of the wellbore is a major addition to the Royston area opportunity.

“We have the potential to further evaluate the intermediate Herrera in future drilling programs by penetrating the intermediate sheet when we drill and assess the underlying Cretaceous prospect. These results further amplify our onshore opportunities in Trinidad.”

He added that based on the data Touchstone Exploration was in the process of configuring the other two uphole primary production test intervals to evaluate liquids rich natural gas prospects.

The second test was expected to be completed within the next three weeks, and the third to be completed by the end of December this year.

Chief operating officer James Shipka said the results strongly suggested that the area was hydrocarbon charged and will continue to investigate prospects that lay beyond depths previously drilled.

“This initial completion test was designed to evaluate potential natural gas volumes, and as such, the downhole assembly was not optimised for an oil discovery and test. At this depth, the larger tubing made it difficult to obtain a consistent crude oil flow rate but provided enough data to confirm the discovery of light oil in the well.

“Given Royston-1 is an exploration well with the primary prospects remaining uphole, we are excited to move to the next test intervals. The subsequent two production tests are in our primary zones of interest in the well as they exhibit higher resistivities on the wireline logs and cleaner indications of sand.”

The working interest of the exploration well located on the onshore Ortoire block is split between Touchstone Exploration who has 80 per cent and Heritage Petroleum Co Ltd with the remaining 20 per cent.