Beach Energy Provides November Drilling Report, Australia

Australia’s Beach Energy has released monthly drilling report for November 2012.

Operated Cooper Basin Unconventional Gas Program

The ten-stage stimulation of Moonta-1 in PEL-218 (Beach 100%) was completed during the month.

Nine of the stages were placed in the Patchawarra Formation to address the basin-centred gas potential in this play, while the uppermost stage was placed in the Murteree Shale to further understand the shale gas play.

Wellbore preparations are underway and flow testing of the well is expected to commence in the first week of December and continue for several weeks.

The shallower Permian targets are planned to be assessed in subsequent stimulation and testing activities in 2013. The stimulation equipment is currently at Streaky-1 in PEL 218, with four of nine proposed stages pumped. The remaining stages are expected to be placed during early December, with the fifth stage currently being prepared, after which the well will be cleaned out with coiled tubing prior to installation of the packer and tubing.Production testing is anticipated to commence around the middle of December.

The stimulation equipment will then move to Halifax-1 in ATP 855P (Beach 60% and operator, Icon Energy Limited 40%) to undertake a 15 stage stimulation of the well during December.

Two vertical exploration wells were drilling in PEL-218 during the month. Marble-1, the fifth vertical exploration well in PEL 218 unconventional exploration program, reached total depth of 3,962 metres and has been cased and suspended for fracture stimulation in a campaign scheduled for March 2013.

A second well, Boston-1, spudded in early November, is at the coring point in the Patchawarra Formation after having earlier recovered 56 metres of core from the Roseneath Shale. It is expected that drilling at Boston-1 will be completed by late December.

A third well, Gaschnitz-1 (Beach 20.21%), is being drilled by the Cooper Basin JV.

Santos Operated Cooper Basin Oil and Gas Exploration and Development

Two gas development wells were cased and suspended during the month. Moolion-5 (Beach 17.14%), drilled as a deviated well, was cased and suspended for future production after intersecting gas in several sands within the Patchawarra Formation.

The Moolion gas field is located about 85 kilometres north from the Moomba Gas Plant and is being developed for gas in the Toolachee, Epsilon and Patchawarra Formations.

Cooba-4 (Beach 20.21%) was the second well drilled during the month, some 45 kilometres north-west from Moomba. This well, too, was cased and suspended as a future gas producer after intersecting Patchawarra Formation gas sands.

One rig has moved to the Queensland portion of the Cooper Basin, and is currently drilling ahead at 1524 metres in the Baryulah-15 gas development well (Beach 23.2%).

The drilling of Gaschnitz-ST1 in PPL-101 (Beach 20.21%) continued during the month. This Nappamerri Trough unconventional gas exploration well will be drilled to approximately 4000 metres and is located approximately 30 kilometres north of the Moomba gas plant.

In Queensland, oil drilling has continued in the T66 block at the Zeus oil field (Beach 30%). Both Zeus-5 and -6 wells were cased and suspended as future Birkhead/Hutton oil producers and Zeus-7 is currently drilling ahead within the Westbourne Formation.

Santos Operated Carnarvon Basin

The Hurricane-3 gas appraisal well, located 2.1 kilometres south-west of the Hurricane-1 gas discovery in permit WA-208-P (Beach 10%), was plugged and abandoned after failing to intersect good quality, gas-saturated reservoir within the target Eliassen Formation.

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LNG World News Staff, December 5, 2012; Image: Beach Energy