The announcement by CGX on January 31 that it had encountered oil at Kawa-1, after more than 20 years of seismic data acquisition and drilling on the Corentyne Block, is being viewed as highly significant by Norway-based energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy.
Schreiner Parker, Rystad Energy’s Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, told OilNOW last week in an exclusive interview at the International Energy Conference that the Kawa-1 announcement is “absolutely significant” because it is de-risking acreage outside of the prolific Stabroek Block.
“I think there was a lingering question about the commerciality of blocks outside of Stabroek, particularly in that Southeast corner of the Stabroek Block. So, if this does in fact become a commercial discovery, then it goes a long way in de-risking the rest of the blocks,” Parker said.
He pointed out also that Kawa-1 will have a positive impact on the upcoming bid round being planned by the government for around the third quarter of this year.
“Kawa will add excitement for the upcoming planned bid round because that is almost a prerequisite to have commercial material discoveries outside of Stabroek; to generate that interest and make it more than a one block play,” he stated.
Executive Co-Chairman of CGX Energy Inc., Professor Suresh Narine told OilNOW last week the Kawa results are encouraging in that they push the established regional trends further upslope than established deepwater discoveries and has the impact of potentially extending the so-called golden trend updip.
“As the first non-Stabroek block discovery in the Maastrichtian, Campanian and Santonian horizons, I would expect that this will certainly encourage increased interest in the slope of the basin as has been noted by other commentators such as Wood Mackenzie,” Professor Narine said.
CGX and partner Frontera Energy Corporation said the Kawa-1 well encountered a total of 200 feet of net pay encountered at multiple depths. The partners said the intervals at Kawa-1 are similar in age and can be correlated using regional seismic data to recent successes in Block 58 in Suriname and the Stabroek Block in Guyana.
They said too that Kawa-1 also encountered hydrocarbon-bearing sands in deeper strata (Coniacian or older).
