Australia: Beach Energy Provides March Drilling Report

Beach Energy Provides March Drilling Report

Australia’s Beach Energy has released the following monthly drilling report for March 2012.

Operated Cooper Basin Unconventional Gas Program

PEL 218 (Beach 100%), workover operations at Encounter-1 have been completed. A diagnostic fracture injection test of the Patchawarra Formation was successfully conducted on 3 April which indicated fracture initiation pressures consistent with the Holdfast-1 well. The main fracture stimulation program will commence in the second half of April, once the fracture stimulation equipment is released from the Moomba-191 well (SACB JV, Beach 20.21%).

The stimulation and evaluation program for Encounter-1 will commence with the treatment of the Patchawarra interval followed by a flow test for a period of up to 30 days. Further details relating to the stimulation of the remaining intervals will be provided at a later date. The information gathered from this program will assist in the design of the horizontal program.

The Moonta-1ST1 well (PEL 218) is currently drilling ahead in the Patchawarra Formation (currently at around 3,500 metres) after delays due to weather and technical issues, which lead to the successful completion of a side track. It is expected that Moonta-1ST1 will take approximately two weeks to reach its planned total depth at the base of the Patchawarra Formation. This well is the first in a campaign of at least five wells designed to delineate the resource potential of the shale and basin centred gas play within the Nappamerri Trough.

The Marsden-1 exploration well (PEL 95, Beach 50%) is being drilled to test the unconventional gas potential of the Permian interval within the Battunga Trough region, approximately 55 kilometres southeast of Moomba. The well is being drilled in the deepest part of the trough and outside of structural closure.

Operated Cooper-Eromanga Oil and Gas

The Haslam-1 exploration well (PEL 106B, Beach 50%) is the fourth planned exploration well in this permit designed to test for stratigraphically trapped gas on the Patchawarra Trough margin, and to gather additional data on the Patchawarra Formation deep coal gas play.

The well cored a 28 metre interval of the Patchawarra Formation, recovering approximately 10 metres of Patchawarra coal, which will be evaluated as part of the Joint Venture’s unconventional gas strategy in this area. The well has reached a total depth of 2913 metres RT and is currently being evaluated. Southend-1 in PEL 107 (Beach 40%) is the fifth well planned in the current gas exploration campaign.

Santos Operated Cooper Basin Oil and Gas Development

The Tindilpie-15 gas development well (Beach 20.21%) was drilled, cased and suspended as a future gas producer.

An oil exploration well, Bullamakanka-1, was drilled in ATP 259P (Innamincka Block, Beach 30%). Evaluation of the well indicated no commercial hydrocarbons, resulting in the well being plugged and abandoned.

The Charo-9 oil development well (PPL 177, Beach 20.21%) was successfully cased once access resumed earlier this month. The rig subsequently drilled, cased and suspended Charo-10, in which the target mid-Birkhead reservoir was again successfully intersected. The rig is currently drilling Charo-11.

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LNG World News Staff, April 4, 2012