Mailisu Project
The West Mailisu oilfield lies up-dip from the Mailisu IV, Mailisu III and Izbaskent oilfields. These fields produce from Paleogene reservoirs.
The Mailisu IV and Izbaskent fields, which were discovered between 1948 and 1972, contained total reserves of 97.5 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil, 45.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of associated gas and 323.7Bcf of non-associated gas (all figures in terms of ultimate recovery USGS, 1994) prior to production. Oil in these fields occurs within Paleogene fossiliferous and fractured limestones in anticlinal structures.
Seismic shot over the East and West Mailisu blocks in mid-2009 has identified three leads in West Mailisu. Additional seismic has been recorded to delineate the leads with the expectation that at least one well could be drilled in the fourth quarter 2010.
One of these leads, West Mailisu 3, shown in the figure above, has the potential for up to 25bcf gas as well as 10mmbbls of oil. The West Mailisu 3 lead lies about 4.5km south of the Kyzyl Alma Gas field which produced some 12bcf from early Jurassic sands as well as oil from the Eocene carbonates. The West Mailisu 3 structure, only revealed by the 2009 seismic programme, looks very similar to Kyzyl Alma (see figure above).