WesternZagros shares rise after operational update on Iraqi wells

WesternZagros Resources (CVE:WZR) shares rose almost 3 percent Tuesday, as the company announced it has completed the remediation work at its Sarqala-1 producing oil well.
The company, in an operational update on its properties in Iraq, also revealed that it is preparing to test what it called the "promising" Shiranish reservoir in the Kurdamir-2 well.
At Sarqala-1, the workover of the subsurface valve has been completed, and the well is ready to resume production when the Kurdistan regional government issues the tenth oil sales contract since production started at the end of October, 2011. Prior to taking the Sarqala well off-line for the repair, it had been producing roughly 5,000 barrels of light oil per day.
Meanwhile, at the Kurdamir-2 well, the operator, Talisman Energy (TSE:TLM) and WesternZagros are currently making the final preparations for the planned Shiranish testing program at the well.
Testing is expected to begin before the end of July, upon successful completion of wireline logging and casing of the wellbore with 7 inch diameter production liner.
At least two drill stem tests will be conducted in the interpreted oil column. The well was drilled through the Cretaceous-age Shiranish reservoir to a total depth of 4,000 metres.
Preliminary cuttings, mud gas and subsequent log results indicate a potential gross hydrocarbon pay interval of over 500 metres thickness in this zone, the company said, with oil shows below approximately 3,500 metres.
No oil-water contact has been detected. The company said preliminary log interpretations are encouraging, indicating a fractured limestone reservoir with some matrix porosity.
The company announced at the end of June that its Kurdamir-2 well in Iraq continued to show oil at total depth. Oil shows with associated elevated mud gas readings were recorded over the entire Shiranish section, said the oil and gas company.
Earlier in June, the company announced it had more than doubled its mean prospective resources in a revised assessment of the Eocene reservoir at the Kurdamir-2 exploration well.
The revised mean prospective resource was 278 million barrels of oil (MMbbl) as of June 1, 2012, compared to the 124 MMbbl reported previously.
WesternZagros and Talisman each have a 40 per cent working interest in the Kurdamir Block, with the Kurdistan regional government holding the remaining 20 per cent.
The Kurdamir-2 well is located approximately two kilometres northeast of the Kurdamir-1 discovery well and is targeting the Oligocene, Eocene and Cretaceous reservoirs on the flank of the structure where the combined potential oil interval is likely at maximum thickness.
WesternZagros also said Tuesday that it continues to actively cooperate with the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) in an effort to assign the third party participant interest within the Garmian Block.
The company "continues to provide thorough and comprehensive cooperation to the KRG in its negotiations with the multiple parties that have expressed interest in becoming the third co-venturer in the Production Sharing Contract that governs the Garmian Block."
The oil and gas explorer said it intends to maintain its current interest in both the Garmian and Kurdamir blocks.
The international natural resources company holds, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, two production sharing contracts with the Kurdistan regional government in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Company shares were trading at $1.17 Tuesday Morning.