Comet Ridge has successfully drilled the horizontal portion of its Mahalo drilling program in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
The Mahalo North 2 dual lateral well was finished and lined at a total (along hole) distance of 1152 m, the company said.
High drilling fluid losses were experienced whilst drilling this second lateral section, above what was experienced when drilling the first lateral.
This would indicate that both lateral wellbore sections have encountered an established natural fracture network in the coal reservoir, which bodes well for future production performance.
The rig was released at 6:00pm on Friday 12 November and will be demobilised over this week.
“We are pleased to have now successfully drilled our first dual lateral well in the Mahalo North block and are excited to see such high fluid losses whilst drilling,” said Comet managing director Tor McCaul.
The well is located on the high-quality fairway in the southern part of ATP 2048, approximately 450 m to the west-southwest of the recently drilled Mahalo North 1 (vertical) well.
It incorporates two separate but connected lateral wells drilled over a long distance, to allow a pathway for water and gas to flow from the natural fractures inside the coal reservoir and into the vertical well (Mahalo North 1) for transport to surface.
Since the last operational update was provided in early November, after the first lateral section was drilled, the second lateral section has been drilled by branching off from the first.
This second lateral branched off prior to the point where the first lateral intersected the Mahalo North 1 vertical well, steering inside the coal seam in a north-easterly direction.
When put into production, water and gas entering this second lateral from the reservoir will move along the well to the junction of the two laterals and will then flow back towards the vertical well and to surface.
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