lets get serious, page-20

xmagx merou X,

I had a look at the seismic cross-section from Dorat to Merou. The fault is definitely post-reservoir sandstone. That they intersected gas indicates to me that the conditions were at least reasonable during hydrocarbon migration and trap formation.

The presence of water may indicate either flushing of some of the hydrocarbons further up the system or else the Merou structure formed late in the hydrocarbon formation process and the structure is only partly filled. If it had more hydrocarbons but they escaped it could go either to the surface along a fault or updip along the sandstone to Tiof. It is hard to tell which. Given that the rocks above the sandstone are mainly very fine grained they could act as seals. So it may be in Tiof.

They have not released data on the actual thickness of the sandstone, just that it was thin. To me the thin sandstone units probably negate the area as having large reserves - it just could not very hold much oil. It would need to be large given the water depth. I am not sure what thickness of sandstone they used when calculating the 300-350Mmbbls for Merou, but it must have been wrong given the drilling data.

Based on the poor results so far when drilling downdip from Tiof and Ching, and the success of drilling updip at Tevet, I would be looking at drilling Dorat next.

G

I hold HDR and am suffering stress at the moment, so do your own research.