"I have wondered if they can't find a service provider for the testing tools that they would drill the well then test it without getting a sample via wireline?"
In a situation where you have a well defined single reservoir and logs clearly show the contacts you can get away with a test to get sample to surface. In the case of Mukuyu we have multiple thin sands in the Upper Angwa and most likely multiple fluid contacts also. If you can't clearly define each individual sand and the contacts then carrying out a drill stem test might yield a great flow rate but there's a high chance you'll flow multiple fluids and not be able to determine from which individual sand each fluid is coming from. Even if you are able to define individual sands to test them in isolation requires separate runs with the drill stem test string and mucking around with packers and plugs.....it can get complex and very time consuming.
Sampling during a flow test is done via samples collected from the flow line at surface during flow periods and also via down hole samplers in the string. Unlike a formation test tool which samples a precise depth a drill stem down hole sample can only sample the perforated interval that is being flow tested. There's also a limit to the number of samplers you can run in a test string.....the last time I was involved in a drill stem test there were only a couple of down hole samplers being run.
A hydrocarbon decent flow rate would allow a discovery to be declared but without formation test and other log data there are a lot of pieces missing from the jig saw.
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