Comet Ridge has announced it has successfully drilled the first Mahalo North 2 lateral well to a distance of 1735 m.
This follows the company’s announcement on 26 October that it had begun operations on the dual lateral well after the rig was mobilised from its Mahalo 1 location.
After running inside the coal seam for 170 m, Mahalo North 2 successfully intersected the vertical production well Mahalo North 1 and then continued drilling out the other side for a long distance on the same heading.
Mahalo North 2 progressed for a further 1130 m after the intercept, reaching a total (along hole) distance of 1,735 m on Friday 5 November.
As a result, the well has exposed approximately 1300 m of Castor-Pollux coal reservoir for production testing.
Mahalo North 2 is located on the high-quality fairway in the southern part of ATP 2048, approximately 3.7 km to the north of the existing Mahalo Pilot Scheme, and 450 m to the west-southwest of the recently drilled Mahalo North 1 (vertical) well.
Comet Ridge managing director Tor McCaul said he was pleased to have completed the first lateral section for the well and is especially happy that it was lined over such a long interval in the main Castor-Pollux seam.
“Based on our drilling fluid volume losses, we have early indications of a very promising natural fracture network along this first lateral wellbore path,” McCaul said.
“Drilling operations for the second lateral section are expected to continue for the next week and then we look forward to commencing production testing of this appraisal well next month.”
The Mahalo North 2 lateral well has been designed to drill inside the coal reservoir, 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 Mahalo North 1 well for transport to surface.
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