Second flow test begins at Antelope-5 in Papua New Guinea

Jan. 21, 2016
Total E&P PNG Ltd. has begun the second planned extended well test at Antelope-5 on its operated petroleum retention license 15 (PRL15) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

Total E&P PNG Ltd. has begun the second planned extended well test at Antelope-5 on its operated petroleum retention license 15 (PRL15) in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea.

The extended well test will flow Antelope-5 at about 50 MMscfd for 2 weeks before being shut-in to record the subsequent pressure build-up. Pressure gauges have been placed in Antelope-1 as an observer well. The test is expected to last 1 month.

Michael Hession, chief executive of partner InterOil Corp., said the initial flow test conducted in June 2015 provided a good indication of the minimum connected volume in Antelope, and the second test aims to further support those findings.

“In order to improve the certainty of the minimum connected volume, we have added additional pressure gauges and we plan to flow five times more gas than we did in our initial test last year,” he said.

The Antelope-5 appraisal well last year intersected the top reservoir at 1,534 m, 230-m higher than operator Total SA’s reference case (OGJ Online, Feb. 16, 2015).

Meanwhile, the Antelope-6 appraisal well, 2 km east-south-east to the Antelope-3 well (OGJ Online, Jan. 2, 2013), has been preparing to drill ahead at 1,120 m TVD subsea (OGJ Online, Oct. 20, 2015). Antelope-6 spudded on Dec. 23, 2015, and has a proposed total depth of 2,464 m TVD subsea.

The PRL15 joint venturers are discussing an additional appraisal well to the west of Antelope-5. The decision whether or not to drill a further appraisal well will follow the evaluation of the Antelope-6 appraisal well and the results of the latest flow test at Antelope-5.