Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, booked initial contingent resources of 2 tcf of gas for its Cooper basin PEL 218 permit in South Australia.
This equates to about five times Beach’s June 2010 reserves figure and is based on gas flows from the Holdfast-1 shale gas well following fracture stimulation of the Permian-age Roseneath, Epsilon, and Murteree shales sequence and the top 50 m of the Patachawarra formation.
The resource has been constrained to a 100 sq km area around Holdfast-1 and a second well Encounter-1 within the PEL218 permit, which itself covers a 1,600 sq km area.
If stratigraphic conditions are similar throughout the permit this could extrapolate to about 16 tcf of gas. In addition, some untested formations like the Daralingie and Toolachie tight gas sands, could substantially add to the figure.
Beach also has an interest in the adjoining permit ATP 855P in Queensland and says there is no reason to expect this geology will be any different. The Encounter-1 well was right on the South Australian/Queensland border. Beach plans its first well in ATP 855P next April.
In the meantime the company will test Encounter-1 and drill two pilot production horizontal wells to test the flow rates of the target zones.
Holdfast-1 flowed up to 2 MMcfd during initial tests and Beach thinks a horizontal well will flow at higher rates.