Australia: Beach Provides Monthly Drilling Report

Beach Energy Limited has released the following monthly drilling report for January 2012.

Beach Operated Cooper-Eromanga Oil and Gas

An eleven well completion program is underway to bring the successful wells from the 2011 drilling campaign into production. Six PEL 92 wells (Beach 75%) are expected to be progressively brought online during February and the new Bauer facility and wells (PEL 91) online in April. Notable flow results to date include Parsons-4 (PEL 92, Beach 75%), which tested at 7600 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and is now online, and PEL 91 wells (Beach 40%) Bauer-1 at 6000 bopd, Bauer-3 at 760 bopd and Hanson-1 at 1150 bopd, which are awaiting facility construction works.

Two exploration wells were drilled in the Cooper-Eromanga Basin during the report period.

The Admella-1 exploration well (PEL 106B, Beach 50%) was the second of five planned exploration wells designed to address the distribution of stratigraphically trapped gas on the Patchawarra Trough margin, and to gather additional data on the Patchawarra Formation deep coal gas play. The well recovered 5.5 metres of Patchawarra coal core that will be evaluated as part of Beach’s unconventional gas strategy. A sand with gas shows was tested, flowing at a maximum rate of 5.5 million cubic feet per day. The flow declined during the duration of the test which also produced formation water. As a result the well was subsequently assessed to be sub-economic and is currently being plugged and abandoned. A further three wells are planned in this campaign.

The Noosa-1 exploration well (ATP 633P, Beach 50%) was drilled to test the oil potential of a prospect along the southern margin of the Cooper-Eromanga. Three drill stem tests were conducted to test oil shows in the McKinlay and Murta Formations. All three recovered formation water with traces of oil. Noosa-1 was consequently plugged and abandoned with a further three wells planned along this southern margin.

Beach Operated Cooper Basin Unconventional Gas Program

A workover rig is milling out a packer within the Encounter-1 wellbore in PEL 218 (Beach 100%) to enable the commencement of fracture stimulation activities now expected to occur in mid February.

The Ensign 916 drilling rig spudded Moonta-1 (PEL 218, Beach 100%) on 23 January. This well will be the first in a campaign of at least five wells designed to delineate the resource potential of the shale and basin centred gas volumes within the Nappamerri Trough.

Santos Operated Cooper Basin Oil and Gas Development

Four gas development wells were drilled during the month; Merrimelia-62, Leleptian-4 and Tindilpie-13 in South Australia (Beach 20.21%) and Durham Downs-5 in Queensland (Beach 23.20%). Three of the wells have been cased and suspended as future gas producers, while the fourth well has reached total depth and is conducting logging operations.

[mappress]

LNG World News Staff, February 1, 2012