AWE Limited (ASX: AWE), Operator of the L1/L2 joint venture, has announced it has commenced flow testing of the second zone in the Waitsia-1 well, the Kingia Formation, to further appraise the conventional Waitsia gas discovery in the onshore Perth Basin, Western Australia.
The testing programme is designed to determine well deliverability from two conventional reservoir zones and to collect gas samples for compositional analysis.
The first zone tested, the High Cliff Sandstone, flowed gas at a rate of 24.7 mmscf/d (announced to the ASX on 7 October 2015).
The second zone being flow tested is the shallower Kingia Formation, where a 15 m interval (3333 – 3348 m) has been perforated.
Well clean-up operations commenced at approximately 07:00 hours AWST (7.00 am Australian Western Standard Time) on Monday 26 October. After an 8 hour combined clean-up and well test period, the well flowed gas at an average rate and pressure of 25.7 mmscf/d and 1530 psig, constrained by tubing size, on a 56/64 in. choke for approximately a one hour period.
AWE’s Managing Director, Bruce Clement, said:
“This is clearly an outstanding result. Both reservoir intervals tested in Waitsia-1 have each flowed at 25 mmscf/d, constrained by tubing size, giving us a combined flow rate greater than 50 mmscf/d.
“We have now confirmed the flow potential of the conventional Kingia and High Cliff Sandstone Formations in the field. The excellent flow rates achieved will enable us to reduce the number of wells, and development costs, to achieve the targeted production rate of 100 mmscf/d for the full field development with the potential to increase the field production rate.
“Engineering and planning work for the first stage of development is well advanced, with early stage production of approximately 10 mmscf/d planned for mid-2016.
The Waitsia-1 well will now be shut in for a brief pressure build-up survey prior to a series of flow tests at various choke settings, rates and well head pressures.
Adapted from a press release by Louise Mulhall