Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has made two natural gas discoveries in its Western Flank gas program in the South Australian section of Cooper basin.
The company reported that its Lowry-1 wildcat drilled in the southwest Patchawarra fairway of wholly owned PRL 26 on Udacha block intersected 3.3 m of net pay in the Permian-age Patchawarra formation.
A 2-hr drillstem test over the interval 2,586-2,593 m flowed at 9.4 MMcfd on a 48/64-in. choke at a flowing pressure of 955 psi. About 34 bbl of condensate also was recovered at a rate of 400 b/d.
The results confirm Lowry-1 as a discovery that is not connected to nearby producing fields. It lies about 4 km northwest off the company’s Middleton gas processing facility and has provided further validation for the approved expansion of this plant to 40 MMcfd from its original capacity of 25 MMcfd.
Lowry-1 was the second exploration well drilled in the Udacha block campaign.
The third well, Crawford-1, about 2 km northwest of the Middleton plant, also found gas.
Designed to evaluate stratigraphic traps within the gas and condensate fairway, the Crawford-1 intersected 4.1 m of net gas pay in the mid-Patchawarra formation target. It was cased and suspended as a future producer.
Beach said reservoir pressure data indicated good permeability and a connection to Brownlow field.
