Up and coming oil and gas explorer Strike Energy expects its ground-breaking Jaws-1 well, likely the deepest coal seam gas well ever drilled in Australia, to potentially come online in early July.
Strike has been pushing the conventional technical boundaries for drilling coal seam gas wells with Jaws-1, with the well reaching depths of over 2km. Whilst most coal seam gas wells are only about 500m to 700m deep, Strike’s technocrats believe the company’s gas deposit is sitting in a unique geological setting that wont crumble under the pressure of great depths.
So far Strike has managed to achieve tentative technical success with the well now drilled, cased and stimulation tested without any major failures.
With the prize being a potentially massive 11 TCF of gas, Strike is teetering right on the verge of becoming the toast of the oil and gas industry if it can get gas to flow from Jaws-1at economic rates.
With the casing now run in and set without any major failures, the well has been de-risked to a degree and all eyes are now on Strike as the market awaits its “Jed Clampett” moment when the hydrocarbons start to flow.
This will allow the company to start production testing to confirm the commercial quality of the company’s Southern Cooper Basin Gas Project in South Australia.
Strike has finished running production tubing and electric submersible pumps have now been run into both the horizontal and intersecting wells at the project.
The pumps are fitted with sensors that provide live downhole information to monitor and control any potential depressurisation of the reservoir.
The company says that having two pumps deployed into the common wellbore allows for multiple points of depressurisation and most importantly, redundancy to ensure the drawdown curve is maintained at the optimal rate of change for gas production.
Management said this week that optimal turndown adjustments, wellbore clearances and downhole gas and water separation should overcome previous complications and allow for a smooth and consistent depressurisation.
Surface construction is also progressing well and following rig demobilisation, the remaining works to connect high voltage power to the pumps will begin.
The Cooper Basin is Australia’s largest onshore oil and gas province with annual production in 2016-2017 of 82.24 billion cubic feet of gas and 11.25 million barrels of oil.
Unlike many stranded onshore oil and gas plays, Strike’s Southern Cooper Basin Gas Project has direct access to infrastructure and Eastern Australian gas markets, which means Strike could be quick to market if it can get gas to flow from Jaws-1.
