Origin Energy Ltd., Sydney, has reported flow of natural gas from its Amungee NW-1H horizontal well in the Beetaloo basin onshore Northern Territory, 500 km southeast of Darwin.
The well, which is the final one of three in the Stage 1 joint venture Beetaloo project with Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd., flowed at variable rates ranging from 0.8-1.2 MMcfd during an initial production test.
Origin noted that the well flowed back fracture stimulation fluid at the rate of 100-400 b/d.
A workover rig has now been mobilized to install production tubing that will enable Origin to run an extended production test that has a permit to continue until late in November.
Amungee is the first horizontal well in the Beetaloo and the test follows an 11-stage hydraulic stimulation program along a 1,000-m horizontal well section in the Middle Velkerri B shale zone.
Origin won approval for the frac program on Aug. 27, the eve of the recent Northern Territory election that just beat the newly elected Labor government of Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s moratorium on fracing imposed ahead of its inquiry into the practice.
The ban includes fracing for both exploration and production. Any future request for fracing will be decided by an independent scientific inquiry.
Origin released initial estimates of the reservoir zone as a thickness of 30 m, a porosity of 4-7.5%. Gas saturation is 50-75% and permeability 50-500 nD.
The gas produced is 95% methane with a carbon dioxide content varying 2-4%.
The first two wells in the three-well program were Kalala-1 and Amungee NW-1, both vertical wells drilled in 2015.
