Valeura spuds Thrace basin appraisal well in Turkey

By Murat Temizer

ANKARA (AA) - Canada's Valeura Energy spudded a second well to appraise its 2017 Yamalik-1 discovery in the Thrace basin of northwestern Turkey, the company announced on Thursday.

The company started drilling the Devepinar-1 well, located around 20 kilometers west of the first appraisal well, Inanli-1, which awaits testing.

The Canadian company said the new well will test the lateral extent of the basin-centered gas accumulation play to the western side of the basin.

"Given the success of Inanli-1 in demonstrating the presence of overpressured gas down to approximately 4,900 meters, Devepinar-1 is currently planned to focus on the most promising intervals, which are shallower,” the company said.

Well drilling is planned to 4,300 meters and will take approximately 80 days.

Valeura is the operator with a 31.5 percent working interest in deep rights of the West Thrace exploration license.

Norway's Equinor holds a 50 percent stake and Pinnacle Turkey holds the remaining 18.5 percent.

"Devepinar-1 is an important appraisal well for the play and will help to indicate the lateral extent.

Success here would validate our thesis that the Basin Centered Gas Accumulation (BCGA) is pervasive across the majority of our acreage," Sean Guest, president and CEO of Valeura commented.