In mid-January 2018, official reports indicated that GeoPark has completed the Uaken 1 new-field wildcat (NFW) as a gas well on the companyâs 100%-held Fell block. The well was said to average 800 Mscf/d through different chokes during production testing from the seldom explored shallow Miocene-age El Salto Formation sandstone. Uaken 1 was spudded sometime in mid-2017, and reached a total depth (TD) of 3,658 m (12,001 ft) in late-2017. There are no details available regarding the original target objective of the well. The Fell block covers approximately 1,506 sq km of onshore land in the Magallanes Basin. Recent success in the block included the Ache 1 gas discovery that was drilled and completed at total depth of 2,999 m (9,694 ft) in June 2014, where it tested an average gas production rate of 9.2 MMcfg/d in the Tobifera Formation and was put on stream in the third quarter of 2015 at the producing rate of 7 MMcfg/d. In addition, the reports also suggested that GeoPark is now considering the possibility of re-entering past discovery wells in Fell block to test the El Salto formation after Uaken 1.
Uaken 1 op. by Geopark (100%) in Fell block, tested 800 000scfg/d avg. on various chokes from the El Salto fm, a stabilised flow is yet to be determined. This discovery in the shallow El Salto fm. provides additional low-cost production and creates a new gas play across the block that can be tested in identified leads and prospects.