Empire Energy has sounded a positive note as Carpentaria 3-H begins drilling in the Betaloo Basin that it is making excellent progress to gas production by 2024/25.
Carpentaria-3H, Empire’s second horizontal appraisal well with a planned 2,000m horizontal section is targeting the Velkerri B shale. IT’s predecessor, C-2H produced average production rates over the first 51 days of 2.2 million standard cubic feet (mmcsf) per day, equivalent to 2.4 mmscf per day per 1,000 metres of horizontal section
Empire said that C-2H tracer data analysis has commenced, with results to be used to inform C-3H completion and fracture stimulation design and Carpentaria-4V (“C-4V”) will be drilled after the drilling of C-3H.
Empire Energy Managing Director Alex Underwood said of recent developments: “The Empire team continues to be highly encouraged by the results we have seen at C2H, characterised by relatively low decline rates and average production rates that give us increasing confidence we will be able to economically develop our significant gas resource in EP187 and across the Beetaloo Basin.
“Preliminary tracer data indicates that all stimulated stages are contributing, albeit some stages are producing significantly more gas than others. The data we continue to collect and analyse will inform the completion design for the C-3H well, with fracture stimulation planned for later this year.
“Despite weak equity market conditions, we are experiencing strong macro tailwinds for our large scale, low CO2 Beetaloo gas project. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King last week publicly predicted that gas prices are very unlikely to ever return to levels below $10 / GJ, and the ACCC continues to forecast material supply shortfalls in years ahead.
“This underscores the critical importance of increased gas supply into Australia’s domestic market and that of the broader Asian region. We are well placed to respond to these challenges as we target commercial production by 2024 / 2025.”
Empire has contracted Schlumberger Land Rigs 185 to drill both C-3H and C-4V. C-3H will be a horizontal well with a planned 2,000 metre horizontal section that will be fracture stimulated.
The well is being drilled from the same pad as C-2H, also targeting the B Shale of the Velkerri Formation but going downdip in the opposite direction. C-3H will further de-risk the project and optimise production rates by applying learnings from the fracture stimulation and flow testing of C-2H.
