WesternZagros sells 96,000 barrels of oil to Iraqi market

WesternZagros Resources (CVE:WZR) has sold 96,000 barrels of oil to the domestic market from its Sarqala-1 extended well test in Iraq as at the end of November, the company announced Monday, along with an update of operations from the region. 

Production at Sarqala-1 has continued to increase with the addition of tank capacity and the building of a new weighbridge, a machine for weighing vehicles and its contents.

WesternZagros expects production from the extended well test to be roughly 124,000 barrels, or 4,000 barrels a day, in December.

It has recently achieved a daily production of over 5,000 barrels per day. To date, the company has received $13 million from crude oil sales, including $7.9 million prepaid by the buyer for the expected December sales volumes.

Meanwhile, the company has begun testing at the Mil Qasim-1 well after drilling through the upper fars to a depth of 2,425 metres, where it had a number of hydrocarbon shows of oil and gas. 

Through a process known as well logging WesternZagros said it identified about 100 metres of potential sandstone reservoir at the Mil Qasim-1 well. The initial results from its testing program are expected to be released by year end.

In addition, the Kurdamir-2 exploration well has been drilled to about 1,790 metres, where currently a second intermediate string of casing is being cemented.

The well will be drilled through the lower fars top seal to a depth of about 2,250 metres, where the third intermediate string of casing is expected to set above the Oligocene reservoir.  

WesternZagros said drilling and testing of the Oligocene reservoir is expected sometime within the first quarter of 2012, with the deeper Eocene and Cretaceous reservoirs to be drilled and tested by the end of second quarter 2012.

WesternZagros is an international natural resources company developing and producing crude oil and natural gas in Iraq.

The company, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, holds two production sharing contracts with the Kurdistan Regional Government in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Iraq has approximately 115 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 220 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves.

Shares of the company closed Friday at 69 cents. Its stock was inactive during pre-market trade Monday.