Central Petroleum Ltd., Brisbane, has brought on stream its Palm Valley-12 development well in Palm Valley gas field in Amadeus basin of the Northern Territory.
The company describes the well as one of its most technically challenging ever attempted.
Although it did not reach its intended deep exploration target, the fallback strategy of converting to a production well in the main P1 Pacoota sandstone reservoir in the field has been justified, the company said.
PV-12 has now flowed at a stable rate of about 10 terajoules/day, which is 40% above pre-drill expectations.
Results from the PV-12 and PV-13 lateral wells provide confidence that the company can continue to convert 2C contingent resources at the field into reserves and additional sales into the Northern Territory pipeline grid with connections into Eastern Australia, the company said.
Palm Valley field capacity is expected to approach the maximum plant capacity of 15 terajoules/day in mid-December when a scheduled compressor overhaul is completed.
PV-12 was drilled and connected under a joint venture of Central (50%), New Zealand Oil & Gas Ltd. (35%), and Cue Energy Resources Ltd. (15%).
Palm Valley field is a large anticlinal structure about 29 km long and 14 km wide about 100 km west of Alice Springs. The main Pacoota sandstone reservoir straddles the Cambrian-Ordovician age boundary.
Palm Valley-1 discovery well was drilled in 1965. Isolation and protracted land rights negotiations delayed production start. The field was brought on stream in 1983.
