SDX Energy spuds new exploration well at South Disouq project in Egypt

British oil and gas company SDX Energy has spudded the Ibn Yunus-1X exploration well at the South Disouq project in Egypt.

Expected to take around 30 days to drill, the exploration will focus on the natural-gas-bearing Abu Madi intervals that were discovered in the SD-1X well in April last year.

Ibn Yunus-1X is the first of four planned wells on the South Disouq concession and will be followed by two appraisal wells in the original SD-1X structure.

SDX Energy president and CEO Paul Welch said: “The success of the SD-1X well proved the existence of source rock in this area which was our biggest uncertainty pre-drill.

“The technical work that’s been completed by our team after the first successful well has provided us with additional confidence in our ability to identify conventional natural-gas-bearing intervals within the 3D seismic data set.

The company currently has more than 300km² of 3D seismic in the block with an identified potential of up to two trillion cubic feet of conventional natural gas.

Welch further added: “Success at Ibn Yunus will de-risk a large portion of that volume, which would be very significant for our shareholders.”

Based on the company forecast, the SD-1X field is expected to have a plateau rate of 50 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscf/d) of conventional natural gas.

The rate could be increased up to 100MMscf/d through exploration success.

The company expects production to start at South Disouq in the second half of this year.