For those who can 'compos mentis'

National Geographic Magyarorszag

Hungary’s deepest well.

A series of exploratory wells were drilled in the Makó-trough, designed to map hydrocarbons in the Makó basin. Among these wells, the Makó-7 is unique, drilled to a total depth of 6085 meters, thereby establishing a new Hungarian record.

The Makó-trough is a deep sedimentary basin, formed during the Miocene geological times, and is located in the south-east part of Hungary, which lies in the Pannonian-basin. The 7 km deep trough is filled with sedimentary debris and rubble. The bottom of the basin is filled with rough sediments (pebbles and conglomerate) from the Algyő and Pusztaföldvár-heights when they were still on the surface. In the late-Miocene epoch, the increasingly sinking Makó-trough, at the beginning continued to be filled with sediments from the large lake above, then later with river carried sediments. The bottom sediment layers made of deep water marls and clays, next send turbidites, followed by deltaic facies, and river sediments from the Pliocene epoch, and then sediments from the forth epoch in the tertiary period.

The exploration for hydrocarbons in the Makó-trough begins in 1969 near Hódmezővásárhely with the H-1 well, drilled to a total depth of 5842 meters. This well was Hungary’s deepest for nearly 40 years. In 1998 the Makó-through was appraised as a potential BCGA area.

In 2004, TXM Gáz- és Olajkutató Kft. have acquired an exploration license for hydrocarbons, followed up by an intensive activity in the area. The goal of the exploration was to find out the extent of the gas saturated geology, for that end a number of exploratory wells were drilled (Pusztaszer, Székkutas, Magyarcsanád, Makó), also 3-dimentional seismic measurement. Presently, Makó-7 well is the deepest well in Hungary, with total depth of 6085 meters. The drilling was stopped when the drill hit the crystalline bedrock. The exploration culminated in proving the existence of a BCGA in the Makó-trough which contains a significant amount of gas accumulation, based on these findings, a long-term exploitation is possible.

Horváth Anita