By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 20 -- InterOil Corp., Toronto, prepared its Elk-1 well on PPL 238 in Papua New Guinea for a 3-week test after a second drillstem test flowed gas-condensate from fractured Miocene Puri limestone.
DST 2, at 5,381-6,090 ft, flowed at a maximum of 21.7 MMscfd of gas on a 60/64-in. choke at 3,165 psi wellhead pressure with unspecified amounts of 46-49° gravity condensate in early October.
DST 1, at 5,381-5,558 ft, flowed 7.1 MMcfd in June, and the company had estimated the flow at 30-50 MMcfd through 7-in. casing on June 11. It plans to set a 5-in. production string for the extended test (OGJ Online, June 6, 2006). TD is 6,506 ft.
The Puri reservoir is heavily fractured and has high permeability, InterOil said.
Top of Puri limestone is at 5,473 ft. Seismic data and nearby outcrops indicate the limestone might be 1,500-2,000 ft thick, and the hydrocarbon column height is theorized to be as thick as 4,000 ft based on recorded surface pressures.
Most of the country's producing oil fields have gas caps, and InterOil said data from both drillstem tests indicate the possibility of deeper oil. The 1957 Puri-1 discovery 10 miles west flowed at a peak rate of 1,610 b/d of oil.
InterOil plans to appraise the Elk structure and drill the nearby Antelope structure.
Elk-1 is 90 miles north-northwest of the coastal town of Kerema and 200 miles northwest of Port Moresby, where InterOil operates a 32,500 b/d sweet crude refinery.
