Vancouver —
The Athabasca Oil Sands deposit is the world’s largest hydrocarbon deposit, exceeding 1.3 trillion barrels of oil. Production from the tar sands is expected to reach 2 million barrels per day by 2003.
Uranium Power is interested in testing a substantial seismic target adjacent to and under the oil sands. The seismic target has been interpreted as a highly fractured dome in the underlying basement granitic rocks.
Through its acquisition of privately owned Anhydride Petroleum, Uranium Power holds three Alberta petroleum and natural gas licences which it has dubbed the Athabasca Oil prospect. These licences cover 251 sq. km and include a suspended well. The well was drilled in 1994 by Anhydride Petroleum, a company headed by C.W. Hunt. However, lack of funding prevented the well from being completed to its targeted depth of 2,149 metres.
Uranium Power has the right to earn an 81.25% working interest in property, prior to payout. Payout occurs when the company recoups the total cost of the well. After payout, the company’s working interest drops to 52.25% and is subject to a 9.5% overriding royalty.
Under the Anhydride Petroleum deal, Uranium Power also acquired two other Alberta petroleum and natural gas licences. These cover an area measuring 80 sq. km, which is 80 km northeast of the Athabasca Oil prospect. The property is dubbed the Firebag Oil prospect.
Uranium Power took control of Anhydride Petroleum chiefly in order to earn an interest in a suspended well which was terminated at a depth of 1,650 metres.
Fracture systems
In 1994, Anhydride Petroleum ran a seismic line run across a granite dome and identified several fracture systems that appeared to be quite thick. The shallowest fracture zone was 2,150 metres deep. In September of that year, the company commenced drilling with the goal of finding hydrocarbons in the basement granite rocks. The well was licensed as AOC Granite 7-32-89-10W4 and is situated 4 km west of Fort McMurray.
The well intersected high-porosity zones, as well as oil and gas showings and extensive fracturing above the target depth. The fracturing appears to be steeply dipping, as high as 84 to the well bore. High-gravity crude oil was observed in the drilling mud at depths of 802-836 metres down-hole, and a strong gas showing was intersected at 1,649 metres down-hole. The drill cuttings from the well exhibited visible oil staining across each of the fracture zones it encountered, and the analysis of drill chips indicated oil inclusions within the quartz and feldspar crystals. In addition, an independent log analyst estimated 7% porosity and 82% oil saturation at depths of 875-899 metres. Drilling encountered the crystalline basement rock at a depth of 543 metres.
Uranium Power plans to test for oil production from five fracture zones in the well bore. These zones were identified 609-1,645 metres down-hole. In order to test these fracture zones, the company will isolate each zone with packers, or plugs, which are placed above each fracture. A production drill stem perforates one of the packers and enables the zone to be tested for a reservoir.
Production tests on the existing well will begin at the end of May and are expected to cost $216,000. A good commercial well will achieve payout in 30 months. If the fracture zones are not commercial, Uranium Power will go back into the original bore and drill to the target depth of 2,150 metres. The estimated cost of completing the well is $500,000.
If the company determines that the well is commercial, it plans to step out and drill a new hole to test the original target.
Anhydride theory
Uranium Power is testing a theory put forth in 1996 by Hunt, who has been credited with the discovery of the Goldstrike mine in Carlin, Nev., as well as several significant oil and gas discoveries in Canada. His theory asserts that petroleum and bitumen can be formed through a process whereby gases from the earth’s mantle interact with metals, minerals and anaerobic organisms. Hunt states that methane effuses from the earth’s interior and can be found in all crustal terranes in varying degrees. Hyperthermophyllic bacteria and archaea obtain their metabolic energy by oxidizing hydrogen from methane. These de-hydrogenated methane molecules, or anhydrides, then recombine to form petroleum.
Hunt’s theory can explain all of the observable facts of petroleum and coal formation, depth and distribution of deposits, as well as trace-element composition. Since the theory does not require pre-existing kerogen and coal macerals for the generation of petroleum, accumulations may not necessarily be restricted to sedimentary rocks. It allows for reservoir formation in any type of rock, provided there are adequate conditions such as permeability and porosity. Sedimentary rocks still provide the best entrapment structures for petroleum reservoirs; however, igneous rocks below sedimentary cover may now be considered excellent targets.
The conventional theory about oil deposition explains that oil is formed through the decay of biomass at high temperatures and pressures in sedimentary rocks. This does not explain why oil has been found in large quantities in granitic basement rocks.
In western Japan, several producing wells are sourced from granite. The wells enter the granite at a depth of 1,300 metres, and the gas-producing zone occurs at about 4,300 metres depth. The best well is reported to make about 800 barrels of condensate per day.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, the white Tiger petroleum field produces 120,000 barrels of oil per day from a total of 20 wells that penetrate igneous rocks at a depth of 1,000 metres and produce oil from multiple fracture zones down to about 4,998 metres.
In the Ukraine, five oil fields in the Dnieper Donetsk basin with total reserves of more than a billion barrels, produce from depths ranging from 3 to 198 metres below the top of the crystalline basement rock.
Another example occurs in the Ames Field in Oklahoma, which has 11 producing horizons in fractured and brecciated igneous rocks. The best-producing horizon has reserves of 146 million barrels of oil.
Uranium Power has 15.9 million shares fully diluted.
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