Paramount Resources Ltd., Calgary, has drilled and completed its first horizontal shale gas exploratory well at Patry in the Liard basin northwest of Fort Nelson in Northeast British Columbia and west of more prevalent Besa River shale exploration in the Horn River basin (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2012).
The well was drilled to 3,400 m true vertical depth with a horizontal bore of 1,200 m and was completed with a 10-stage fracture stimulation in the Devonian Besa River formation in early March 2013 that included the injection of 120,000 bbl of completion fluids.
The well beganflowing on clean-up in the first week of March and continues to recover completion fluids. Over the first 69 hr of metered gas flow, gas rates ranged between 5 MMcfd and 14 MMcfd on clean-up and completion fluid recoveries averaged 4,000 b/d at flowing tubing pressures of 11,000 to 35,000 kpa up 114.3-mm tubing.
During the last 24 hr of that period, gas rates averaged 7 MMcfd at an average FTP of 11,500 kPa, and completion fluid recovery was 2,800 b/d. As a pressure transient analysis or well test interpretation has not been carried out, the flowback data provided should be considered preliminary, Paramount said. In addition, these data are not necessarily indicative of long-term performance or ultimate recovery.
The company is working to confirm that all 10 stages of the fracture stimulation are open and contributing. In order to further evaluate well performance, Paramount plans to tie the Patry well into an existing pipeline within 2 miles of the wellsite and plans to bring the well on production by the end of 2013.
The company resumed drilling at its initial shale gas evaluation well at Dunedin west of Patry in February 2013 after suspending drilling in the spring of 2012 due to warm weather.
Paramount plans to drill this well to the intended vertical depth of 4,500 m at which point it will evaluate further plans to complete the vertical wellbore and-or drill a horizontal leg. This activity is expected to extend the mineral rights surrounding the well location for an additional decade and provide information useful for future development.
