Sterling has better luck second time round

25th Mar 2011 15:56

Oil and gas firm Sterling Energy has updated the market on operations in the Sangaw North block in Kurdistan, in which it has a 53.33% working interest.The company said that the side-tracked wellbore of Sangaw North number one well has been drilled to a depth of 3,360 metres, into the top of the Jurassic formations and at a depth above where the influx of gas was recorded in the previous wellbore.The company plans to drill a bit deeper and evaluate the Jurassic formations to a well depth of 3,660 metres, a process it expects to take about a month. The first attempt at drilling the well resulted in the drill pipe in the well bore being adversely affected by the hydrogen sulphide in the gas which the drilling encountered, with the result that the steel became brittle and prone to fracturing."Operations since the gas influx and parted drill pipe in the previous wellbore have been challenging, and we are very pleased to have successfully re-drilled and cased the well to this important point in the upper Jurassic section. From here, we look forward to exploring the potential of the deeper horizons," said Sterling's chief executive, Angus MacAskill. - - -jh