Operations

Peru

Sechura Basin, Peru
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Sintana Energy entered into an exploration and production participation agreement as of February 4, 2011 with Faulkner Exploration, Inc. for 25% participation in the Bayovar License, which includes the rights to 175,000 onshore acres in Block XXVII on the western edge of the Sechura Basin.

The block includes acreage lying along the eastern side of the major Illescas fault which has been the trapping fault for a number of large fields north of Bayovar. These offset fields include La Casita, San Francisco, SanPedro and, most recently, Esperanza.

La Casita Field
  • one offshore well; ten onshore wells
  • Volumetric reserves of 143 BCF
San Francisco Field
  • two offshore wells
  • Reserve estimate up to 500 BCF
San Pedro Field
  • 19 offshore wells; two offshore platforms
  • Reserve estimate up to 100 MMBO
Esperanza Field
  • two offshore wells; 30,000 of the 175,000 acres
  • Reserve estimate up to 93 MMBO
  • Reserve estimate up to 143 BCF
  • Reserves risk factor estimates of 33% for oil
  • Reserves risk factor estimates of 50% for gas

The operator Faulkner Exploration, Inc. S.A. has drilled the first of five wells planned, a total of ten well locations on the Bayovar block have been approved by the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines.

The primary target exploration zones are the Verdun and Paleozoic both of which have been found to be both oil and gas productive in the offset fields. Additional evidence of the prospectivity of the Bayovar block includes shallow gas recoveries from wells drilled on the block in the 1920's and 30's.

The Bayovar block is in a strategically advantageous location for a number of reasons. The major Petroperu oil pipeline crosses the northern part of the concession and terminates at the Port of Bayovar where it is shipped 70 kilometers to the refinery in Talara. Gas markets in the area include two existing phosphate mines, fish meal plants and a large petrochemical plant is currently under discussion. The initial drilling area is in a flat, semi-barren and sparsely populated area with existing roads.

Bayovar sits over an uplift that allows access to the primary reservoirs at relatively shallow depths (~ 4,000 feet) which should keep gross drilling costs per well in the US$2,000,000 range.