Poland Baltic shale gas evaluation advancing

Sept. 26, 2011
3Legs Resources PLC completed tests at two shale gas wells, one of which encountered a new shale interval, in Poland’s Baltic basin while Talisman Energy Poland has spudded its first well.

3Legs Resources PLC completed tests at two shale gas wells, one of which encountered a new shale interval, in Poland’s Baltic basin while Talisman Energy Poland has spudded its first well.

3Legs said the Lebien LE-2H well flowed gas on nitrogen lift at an unstabilized rate declining from 2.2 MMscfd on Sept. 8 to 500 Mscfd on Sept. 13. The company ran tubing and the well continued to flow on nitrogen lift to recover frac water with gas increasing from an initial 380 Mscfd to 450-520 Mscfd on Sept. 25, when 15% of the frac water had been recovered, before being shut-in for further analysis.

Interpretation of logs run after the multistage fracs indicates that the frac propagated to a portion of the reservoir in each of the 13 stages but not to all of the reservoir. The company plans to review frac designs with the intention of improving frac performance on future wells.

The well achieved its two key objectives of attaining a sustained gas production rate and providing critical data for drilling and stimulation design for future wells.

The 3Legs Warblino LE-1H well, 25 km west of Lebien LE-2H, went to a total depth of 3,222 m and encountered a separate deeper interval in addition to the intervals completed at Lebien LE-1 and Lebien LE-2H.

Warblino was sidetracked to drill a horizontal borehole in the deeper interval. After drilling a 1,246-m horizontal lateral of shale with strong gas shows, and just prior to reaching planned total depth, the well encountered hole stability issues and a sidetrack was kicked off to redrill the same section.

The new lateral was drilled to 3,844 m measured depth with a 500-m horizontal section, shorter than originally planned, so as to reduce the risk of encountering hole problems. A stimulation program is pending.

Meanwhile, Talisman has spudded the Lewino-1G2 well on the Gdansk-W concession, said partner San Leon Energy PLC. The Lewino well targets unconventional shale gas in the Lower Silurian, Ordovician, and Upper Cambrian and is the first of a three-well program. The other two wells will be on the Braniewo and Szczawno concessions.