Kekra-I block has good reservoir but water wet

ISLAMABAD: The Petroleum Division of the Energy Ministry on Sunday said the results of four-month offshore drilling at Indus G-Block called Kekra-I, some 230kms off the Karachi coast, had shown good quality hydrocarbon reservoir, but unfortunately these were water wet. 

“After the well control operations, the open hole section drilling was resumed on Friday. The reservoir was encountered at 5,492 meters and so far about 140 meters of reservoir has been drilled. The log results show a good quality reservoir but unfortunately water wet without any gas effect,” said a press release of the Petroleum Division.

Current depth of the well is 5,634 meters while another 55 meters would be drilled before proceeding with P&A (plug and abandon) operations, which has already been approved by the Joint Venture Partners, including Exxon.

The offshore drilling is a joint venture of ENI, Exxon Mobil, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited and Pakistan Petroleum Limited.

The consortium had started drilling activities on January 13, 2019. Hopes for the discovery of large reserves of oil and gas off Karachi coast faded after it was officially announced on Saturday that the much-celebrated offshore drilling in Kekra-1 had been stopped because no reserves were found. The operators of the well have decided to plug it in the coming days. Around 17 attempts have been made in the past, but all remained unsuccessful despite encouraging data from each drilling.