Empire Energy has placed four hydraulic fracture stimulation stages in its Carpentaria-1 well in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-Basin.
The well is where four stacked shale targets within the Velkerri Formation are in the process of being evaluated.
The vertical fracture stimulation stages were placed in the A Shales, Intra A/B Shale, B Shales and C Shale of the middle Velkerri Formation over a five-day period.
The company stated that a fracture stimulation was carried out in each target shale zone.
The proppant is placed into the induced fractures to promote hydrocarbon flow.
Initial flow-back fluids have started being pumped back into C Shale, with the first few hours indicating gas at surface.
Empire has outlined that the next phase of the project will be to mill the bridge plus set between each stage and clean out the wellbore.
Extended production testing will take place after flow-back, with samples taken to determine gas, liquids and water yields from each of the stimulated stages.
Wireline logging will also be carried out to assess the induced fracture height in each stage.
The company has highlighted that this data is important for the interpretation of each shale unit’s hydrocarbon productivity and understanding of rock properties.
In addition, the dataset will aid Empire’s design and location optimisation for fracture stimulated horizontal appraisal drilling planned for later this year.
The horizontal drilling program will be funded from existing cash at bank.