Australia: Armour Updates on NT Operations

Armour Energy provided an update on the 2013 Northern Territory drilling campaign currently in progress.

Myrtle Basin 1 vertical well

The Myrtle Basin 1 exploration well located just 5km to the south of the Daly Waters to McArthur River Pipeline has been drilled successfully to a depth of 861 metres penetrating the top of the Barney Creek Shale in the Myrtle Sub-basin of the McArthur Basin. The Barney Creek shale formation was encountered significantly deeper than prognosis, which could indicate stronger gas contents.

The remainder of the Barney Creek Shale and the underlying prospective Coxco Dolomite formation in Myrtle Basin 1 can now be core drilled to test for hydrocarbons and to obtain geochemical laboratory data. Armour believes the Myrtle Sub-basin is an area with potential to host deeper and possibly more prospective intervals than the 2012 Glyde Sub-basin gas discovery.

Armour is currently seeking approval from the Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy to deepen this well. Meanwhile, the drilling rig has moved to and spudded the Lamont Pass 3 well. Unless constrained by the onset of the wet season Armour will continue with coring at Myrtle Basin 1 following the drilling of Lamont Pass 3.

Lamont Pass 3 vertical well

The Lamont Pass 3 exploration well is the second site testing for hydrocarbon accumulations located in the Glyde Sub-basin of the McArthur Basin. Prior to setting casing at 304 meters, connection gases of up to 100 units were reported.

Lamont Pass 3 is located 50km south of the Myrtle Sub-basin and is 25km north of the Glyde 1 (ST1) gas discovery made by Armour Energy in 2012, which flowed 3.3 mmcfd.  The Lamont Pass 3 well is testing multiple targets from a single vertical well. The Lamont Pass structure is one of twenty-three (23) of Armour’s targeted areas holding 264 Bscf Mean Prospective Resources, unrisked, as assessed by DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) within the Coxco Dolomite of the Teena Formation. These 23 target areas are associated with a wider zone of potential Coxco Dolomite target areas extending along the Emu Fault trend and likely sourced from the Barney Creek Shale. These Coxco conventional Prospective Resources are an addition to MBA Petroleum Consultants’ Mean Prospective Resource estimate of 18.6 Tscf unconventional resources assessed for the Barney Creek Shale within the Batten Trough of the McArthur Basin.

Just as a series of wells drilled by Amoco in 1979 discovered gas in the Glyde Sub-basin leading to the successful Glyde ST1 well (drilled by Armour in August 2012), an offset 1982 Amoco 82-6 core well drilled 5km northwest of Lamont Pass 3 which reached a total depth of 300 metres reported up to 7% total organic content (TOC) with bitumen lined vugs and residual oil shows above the Barney Creek Shale. Lamont Pass 3 is prognosed to pass through these prospective intervals in the Caranbirini Member as well as the Reward Dolomite, Barney Creek Shale and the Coxco Dolomite to a total depth of approximately 1,200 metres. Both the Caranbirini Member and Reward Dolomite also had gas flows and shows in the Cow Lagoon 1 discovery well drilled by Armour Energy in 2012.

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LNG World News Staff, October 08, 2013; Image: Armour Energy