Empire Energy Group is now planning a follow up fraccing program with its US consultants to test a 192 metres long horizontal drill section at its recently completed Carpentaria-2H well in the Beetaloo Basin’s Velkerri Formation. The 192m section is thought to be the longest ever horizontal well ever drilled in the Beetaloo Basin’s Velkerri Formation. Carpentaria-2H is already showing early signs of liquids-rich shale gas.
Empire said the completion of the Carpentaria-2H well was an outstanding result in terms of drilling costs and time savings compared with all other wells in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.
It said the Silver City Rig 40 was released on the 16th of December, 39 days after spudding with the horizontal section itself taking only five days to drill. It was drilled to a total measured depth of 3,150m with a 1,345m horizontal section in the Velkerri B Shale target.
The results of the earlier Carpentaria-2 vertical well and the latest Carpentaria-2 horizontal well will be sent back to the US for an updated Contingent and Prospective Resources report for that particular lease.
Planning of the all-important fracture stimulation and extended production testing of Carpentaria-2H will also kick off shortly.
Empire said the shales from Carpentaria -2H were highly consistent and contiguous with those intersected at the earlier Carpentaria-1 discovery, albeit somewhat deeper and the company said a corresponding increase in well bore pressure was likely to drive flow rates.
Strong gas shows were recorded throughout the drilling of the horizontal section and core samples from the vertical hole showed encouraging signs of hydrocarbon bubbling, which Empire said represented live gas.
Empire Energy Group Managing Director, Alex Underwood said: “We have commissioned Netherland, Sewell and Associates to prepare an updated independent resource report, and anticipate a material increase in contingent resources, with results expected early in Q1.
We are incorporating the log and core data collected during the drilling of C-2H into our fracture stimulation models to optimise the design for the 2022 fracture stimulation and flow test of C-2H.
Empire’s well-side crew is clearly refining its act.
The new Carpentaria-2H well that included well pad construction, water monitoring bores, formation evaluation, drilling, casing, cementing, and suspending the well came in at a cost of $11.5m. This compares favourably against the relatively simple Carpentaria-1 well that cost $11.3m but did not have all the complexities of going horizontal.
The company said the Carpentaria-2H well results proved the continuous extension and consistency of the Velkerri shales from the original Carpentaria-1 well all the way through to Carpentaria-2H some 11kms away.
Empire’s Beetaloo Basin project has received significant Northern Territory and Federal Government endorsement and funding, as it is hoped a full field development would stimulate industry and regional employment.
The first half of the Carpentaria game plan has been run and Empire’s strategists are planning the second half fraccing program. The new year should see an upgraded reserves report after which Empire will take to the field again and get stuck into fraccing and production testing of this very promising well.
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By Matt Birney
