Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. said Tuesday it had spudded a well in the Beetaloo sub-basin in Australia’s Northern Territory, targeting to drill 10,499 feet (3,200 meters) deep.
The Shenandoah South IH (SSIH), the first of two horizontal wells Falcon has scheduled for drilling this year, sits 37 miles (about 60 kilometers) from the Amungee NW-2H well (A2H), another Falcon asset that has already achieved a gas breakthrough. Both exploration projects are targeting the Amungee Member B-shale.
Dublin-based Falcon earlier said gas flow at A2H, for which Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Ltd. and Tamboran (B2) Pty Ltd. are co-venturers, had potentially been inhibited but that the results showed the shale possibly had more in store for production.
SSIH, which has a 3,281-foot (1,000 meters) horizontal section, is 23 feet (around 700 meters) deeper than A2H, according to the company.
“The deeper reservoir in this area of the basin is expected to deliver higher pressures, based on data from the two Santos-operated Tanumbirini wells in EP [Exploration Permit] 161”, it said in a press release Tuesday.
On June 22, Falcon announced, “The A2H well achieved gas breakthrough, however, modeling and independent third-party analysis from a US laboratory identified a potential skin inhibiting the flow of gas from the stimulated shale”.
“Despite this, the gas has flowed at an average rate of 0.97 mmcf/d [million cubic feet a day] over 50 days with circa 10 percent of the water used in the simulation program recovered to date, well below other wells in the basin”, it said. “The JV [joint venture] believes flows from the well are yet to establish an uninhibited 30-day initial production rate.”
The well was producing at approximately 830,000 cubic feet a day with a water recovery rate of 50 barrels per day, Falcon said.
“The hydrocarbon phases recovered are dry gas with 90.4 percent methane and 9 percent ethane”, it added.
“The JV believes the results are not indicative of the underlying production potential of the Amungee Member B Shale as the Amungee NW-IH well achieved flow rates of >5 mmcf/d over a normalized 1,000 meters from the same well pad in 2021.”
Falcon said it would continue to test fluid samples to determine how to clean up the suspected inhibitor.
In Tuesday’s announcement chief executive Philip O’Quigley said, “The spudding of the SSIH horizontal well, which is the first of the planned two horizontal wells to be drilled in 2023, is an exciting next step in the appraisal of the Beetaloo Sub-Basin”.
“We are confident that learnings and results from the previous two Amungee wells drilled in EP 98, together with the two Santos operated Tanumbirini wells drilled in EP 161 will have a positive impact on the outcome of the results from this SSIH well”, he added.
Falcon said it would “participate in the SSIH well at its full participating interest of 22.5 percent which, under the terms of the Joint Operating Agreement, will create a drilling spacing unit of 20,480 acres”.
“Falcon remains fully funded for its share of all costs associated with the drilling and testing of the SSIH well”, it added.
SSIH is being drilled by Helmerich & Payne Inc.’s super-spec FlexRig@ Flex 3 rig.
Falcon operates in Australia through its 98 percent-owned subsidiary Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Ltd. Besides Australia, Falcon has a portfolio in Hungary and South Africa.
To contact the author, email jov.onsat@rigzone.com
