Touchstone Exploration has announced a “significant crude oil discovery.”
It stated that the Cascadura-1ST1 well in the Ortoire exploration block on shore Trinidad cased hole wire-line logs indicated significant prospective oil pay totalling between 1,037 feet from 1,374 feet of gross sand.
President and chief executive officer of the Company Paul R Baay said the well results have far exceeded pre-drill expectations.
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He said, “This well is not only a significant discovery and milestone for Touchstone, but we believe it also establishes a new development stage for on shore the second of four minimum last four years.
Baay said, “In the new year, we expect to test each zone independently in order to better understand the economic potential of the prospective oil sands, and if the findings are positive, it will set up an expansive development drilling programme in the area.”
The company has an 80 per cent working interest in the license but is responsible for 100 per cent of the drilling, completion and testing costs associated with the initial four exploration wells.
Heritage Petroleum Company Limited holds the remaining 20 per cent working interest.
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And in congratulating Touchstone former minister of energy, Kevin Ramnarine said in a release that the success of the company underscores the need for the Ministry of Energy to continuously award acreage for exploration.
Ramnarine said this was not the policy “for the period 2016 to 2018, the Ministry of Energy has awarded zero hectares of acreage for exploration—a trend will have most likely continued into 2019.”
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The former energy minister said, “What is significant about the Cascadura well is the fact that it has discovered crude oil in 1,037 feet of total net oil pay which makes it a potentially significant discovery and potentially the most significant discovery on land since the 2002 discovery of the Carapal Ridge (now Shell Central Block).”
He said, “Given that Touchstone has more exploration wells planned and their growing understanding of the geology there is the potential for more discoveries in Ortoire in 2020.”
Ramnarine said from 2011 to 2015, the Ministry of Energy awarded 1.418 million hectares of acreage for exploration.
