Empire Energy has completed the drilling of the CarpentariaI-2H vertical section to a total depth of 1835 m by Silver City Rig 40, located in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

Across the four stacked Velkerri Foundation pay zones, the well has encouraged thick liquids rich gas shales.

Strong gas also shows across the target formations and live gas bleeding from core samples.

Interpretation of well logs shows a strong correlation in thickness and rock characteristics of the four stacked shale targets to the Carpentaria-1 location.

Target shales are 240 m deeper compared to Carpentaria-1, which is consistent with pre-drill seismic interpretation.

Empire’s managing director Alex Underwood said the company was delighted with the drilling results.

“Results reinforce our modelling of strong continuity of the Velkerri’s liquids rich gas target shales with a strong match with the Carpentaria-1 location 11km away, albeit 240m deeper at Carpentaria-2,” Underwood said.

“Increased depth is likely to support increased flow rates while maintaining a cost advantage over deeper drilling.”

Underwood said the drilling for the horizontal section of Carpentaria-2H has started.

“[It is] our first ever horizontal well, targeting the Velkerri B shale, which was the strongest contributor to gas production of the four target formation in the Carpentaria-1 vertical flow test,” he said.

Empire is targeting the Middle Velkerri B shale in the next round of drilling.

The announcement follows the recent increase in flow rates for the company’s CarpentariaI-1 well in the same permit area.

CarpentariaI-2H will be suspended over the wet season after the drilling, casing and cementing of the horizontal section, which will be underway in the coming weeks.

Source: Oil & Gas Today