Empire Energy has successfully drilled, cased, and suspended the Carpentaria-2H (C-2H) well in its EP187 permit which is located in the Beetaloo sub-Basin, Northern Territory.
The vertical hole reportedly intersected 192 metres of liquids-rich shale gas intervals, with gas compositions nearly identical to the Carpentaria-1 well, across the four middle Velkerri pay zones.
C-2H was drilled to a depth of 3150 metres with the horizontal section length being 1345 metres placed within the Velkerri B Shale target window.
This marked the longest horizontal section drilled to date in the Velkerri shale sequence.
The company chose the Velkerri B shale target zone based on C-1H production testing results as well as a petrophysical analysis of the C-2H vertical hole.
The C-2H vertical well proved the Velkerri shales extend from the C-1H well, which is located about 11 kilometres to the south.
The company said the consistency of shale thickness between both wells, along with the available 2D seismic grid, confirms the extension and regularity of shale targets throughout the EP187 resource.
Managing director Alex Underwood said the successful drilling of Carpentaria-2H, on time and on budget, was an outstanding result and a testament to the quality of the team and contractors.
“Empire continues to demonstrate that it is the Beetaloo Sub-basin’s cost leader,” he said.
“C-2H, the longest horizontal well targeting the Velkerri formation drilled to date, had a similar cost to our first vertical well, Carpentaria-1, substantially less than peers across the basin.”
The company will now incorporate the log and core data from the C-2H drilling into its fracture stimulation models to optimise the design for next year’s fracture stimulation and flow test of C-2H.
Fracture stimulation and production testing are expected to begin in the second quarter of next year.
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