Fausse Point
The Fausse Point Project is located onshore, approximately 140km west of New Orleans, Louisiana, in an existing established oil and gas province of Louisiana where the salt dome complex has previously produced more than 44 million barrels of oil, 2 million barrels of condensate and 141 billion cubic feet of gas.
Local market, production facilities and experienced service companies are readily available in the area, ensuring that any discovery can be quickly brought into production.
Fausse Point #1 Well spudded on 5 December 2009 and reached its targeted depth of 8,475 feet in mid-January. The well encountered three separate oil and gas formations starting around 7,000 feet. Numerous zones of interest were encountered across these formations.
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The lowest formation extends over 300 feet and includes several zones of interest some of which had shown good permeability, porosity and oil/condensate in the sample cores.
Testing the current phase of the TGR #1 well was completed in September 2010 but production in the first well was ultimately not commercial due to tight formations and geographical irregularities. However, there are significant hydrocarbons in the field, presenting a major opportunity.
The joint venture acquired seismic data covering the Fausse Point discovery well, which it has reprocessed and reinterpreted. Data from numerous wells around the salt dome and particularly in the Fausse Point discovery area has also helped in the interpretation and evaluation of the initial discovery.
This review and assessment of reinterpreted seismic has been encouraging and has determined a well-defined structure. TGR #1 appears to be in an upthrown fault block that closes against salt, the updip part of the trap is believed to be subsalt and the sand a “stray” channel sand. The structure appears to be of considerable size and could potentially contain a significant volume of hydrocarbons.
An appraisal well is to be drilled at Fausse Point as a sidetrack to the TGR # 1 well, targeting a potential 200-acre hydrocarbon accumulation over two primary intervals up dip from the original well. The fault block to be drilled has no previous penetrations of the targeted pay interval and is estimated to contain up to 20bcf (3.5mmBOE) of recoverable gas on an unrisked basis.
The new well will be drilled as a deviated well from the exiting pad to approximately 9950ft with the targeted intervals being approximately 920ft from the TGR # 1 well. The sidetrack will utilise the existing wellbore and will require approximately 2300ft of new wellbore to be drilled at a maximum deviation of 37 degrees. It is anticipated that the total drilling, completion and tie-in costs of the sidetrack will be approximately $1.3 million, of which we will pay about $936,000.
The required drilling permits are ready for filing and the surrounding leaves required to cover the additional land needed to encompass the entire targeted structure have been secured. It is anticipated that drilling of the sidetrack well will commence in the last quarter of 2011.
Verus Investments initially had a 45% working interest in the Fausse Point project but this grew to 72% after our merger with Pass Petroleum in October 2010. However, the board is reviewing the option of farming down some of Verus’ interest in Fausse Point, and as of July 25 2011, a farm-out package was almost complete.