Australian company finds ‘better quality’ oil in Cuba

Australian independent company Melbana energy found “better quality” oil in a well in the municipality of Martí, in the province of Matanzas.

The exploration well, dubbed Alameda-2, was a “huge success,” producing 1,903 barrels of oil per day at its peak with an average stabilized flow of 1,235 barrels per day, according to a text from the journal upstream online.

Melbana’s chief executive, Andrew Purcell, explained that the oil recovered was “significantly lighter,” had an API value of 19 degrees, and had a lower viscosity than that produced at other Matanzas units.

As he pointed out, this new well provides the Company with more near term production options which it will consider as it finalizes its development plan for the field.

“The fact that it contains higher quality oil has implications for the value of the produced oil and also the possibility of higher recoveries than anticipated in our original resource estimates,” said the General Manager.

These results were obtained from drilling less than 20% of the total net face of Block 1B, he explained, and the flow exceeded our expectations for a vertical test at such shallow depths.

The Alameda-2 appraisal well produced surface oil from Block 1A, encountered strong inflows of higher grade crude oil from Block 1B, showed mobile oil from Block 3 and confirmed a significant increase in recorded net thickness up to 615 metres.

Block 9, where the discovery was made, covers an extensive land area of ​​more than 2,300 square kilometers on the north coast of Cuba, in a hydrocarbon system with proven efficiency and in the same direction as the Varadero oil field, with a production of billions of barrels.

The Australian company operates the Block 9 Production Participation Agreement with a 30% interest. The Angolan state company Sonangol fully finances its share of the evaluation costs and participates in 70% of the measures.

Melbana has spent several years on this exploration of oil wells on the Cuban coast. In 2017 they found two with 200 million Total casks belonging to Block 9 PSC, located in the areas between Cárdenas, Matanzas and Sagua la Grande, Villa Clara.

These are the Alameda and Zapato wells, whose exploitation campaign has been going on for several years.

Melbana energy It is one of the few foreign companies operating in Cuba. In 2018, he announced that the island’s authorities had given him their consent to carry out oil drilling plans, taking into account local and municipal regulations on land use and possible environmental impacts.