Drilling Progress at Antelope-6

[sageo]

Someone I know spoke with IR this morning, and this is basically what they said: We are holding off on drilling Ant. 6 because it may be connected to Ant. 5 and therefore could compromise the flow test results. We will resume drilling when the flow test is completed.

Movieguy -Thanks for the information.....answers my question to Pet yesterday about any news on A6. Mucho appreciation !

[bdahl385]

Someone I know spoke with IR this morning, and this is basically what they said: We are holding off on drilling Ant. 6 because it may be connected to Ant. 5 and therefore could compromise the flow test results. We will resume drilling when the flow test is completed.

If this is true, then it was very poor planning to have the extended flow test running at the time that could be affected by the drilling at A6.  The rig gets paid day rates whether the bit is "turning to the right" or not.  They "tagged" the top of A6 reservoir on Jan. 29th and were setting the liner.  So I guess this means no drilling for last 14+ days ...

[Putncalls]

I don't know about the state of the A6 drill bit. Getting any schedule to within a few weeks in PNG is a an accomplishment.

[jft310]

Sounds like they intended the test a couple weeks earlier see the difference in dates that PET discussed earlier before they entered the resource top . But didn't get started when expected . The drill bit worked better or quicker than expectations is a possibility . A quick drill time in most cases is a good thing but not this time maybe is the reason.

[petrengr1]

Someone I know spoke with IR this morning, and this is basically what they said: We are holding off on drilling Ant. 6 because it may be connected to Ant. 5 and therefore could compromise the flow test results. We will resume drilling when the flow test is completed.

If this is true, then it was very poor planning to have the extended flow test running at the time that could be affected by the drilling at A6.  The rig gets paid day rates whether the bit is "turning to the right" or not.  They "tagged" the top of A6 reservoir on Jan. 29th and were setting the liner.  So I guess this means no drilling for last 14+ days ...

bdahl-I am afraid that I must agree with you about this being very poor planning. We were originally told that we would have pressure recorders in several of the other wells when they tested Antelope-5 in order to determine connectivity between the wells. As it turned out on the first test we only had pressure recorders in Antelope-1 as a "listening well". We were told we would retest after completing Antelope-4. Of course they screwed up the cement job on the liner so bad that they apparently were unable to repair it so they abandoned the well without ever testing it, saying that the well had to be abandoned due to the integrity of the well. So no connectivity test with Antelope-4.

Since we have already proven connectivity between Antelope-5 and Antelope-1 one might think they do not need to test that again but once again the test was done with pressure recorders only in Antelope-1 and Antelope-5.

I would have expected that they would like to know if we have connectivity between Antelope-5 and Antelope-6. If that was the case they would have had to delay the second test at Antelope-5 until they had drilled and completed Antelope-6.  But instead they proceeded with the testing of Antelope-5 before drilling and completing Antelope-6. Now they have to delay drilling through the pay zone until the testing (including the shut-in period) at Antelope-5 is completed because they think Antelope-6 may be connected to Antelope-5. They are right to delay the drilling at this time because if they drilled through the zone and had a loss of circulation into the zone or allowed the well to produce some gas, while or after drilling, it could mess up the test they are now trying to perform. I believe they are not interested in the connectivity between Antelope-1 and Antelope-5, which has already been proven, but they are interested in seeing again the pressure drop for a given volume of production and to see if they can determine from the pressure build-up analysis during the shut-in period how far it might be to the western fault. I think such an analysis might be very difficult due to the shallow angle of the fault, the variable permeability of the many zones open in the well bore of Antelope-5 and the very small pressure drawdown during the test. So the pressure build up anlaysis will only involve analyzing the 2 psi pressure buildup which is almost instantaneous. Since they are leaving the well shut-in for about two weeks after the flow test they must be expecting to see some kind of change in the pressure recorders of Antelope-5 during that time period. Just an opinion but I am not an expert in this field.

If they want to prove connectivity between Antelope-5 and Antelope-6 they will have to do a third test after Antelope-6 has been completed.

[jft310]

One answer would be one or more of the appraisal engineers might have requested a different testing technique . There is much we don't know and may never know . What matters is how much gas and is it connected . There is a requirement for new estimates by March 31st. Could explain timing . Second guessing the team without all the info seems a bit silly except to pass the time . To assume Total doesn't know what it's doing is even more nonsense . Something else is going on that we are not part of and never will be best guess.

[ArtM72]

One answer would be one or more of the appraisal engineers might have requested a different testing technique . There is much we don't know and may never know . What matters is how much gas and is it connected . There is a requirement for new estimates by March 31st. Could explain timing . Second guessing the team without all the info seems a bit silly except to pass the time . To assume Total doesn't know what it's doing is even more nonsense . Something else is going on that we are not part of and never will be best guess.

It is impossible for me to conceive how wells in a sedimentary formations having the depth and porosity of E/A's could not be connected.  The connectivity thing is a given.  If their pressure models a are good enough (maybe they have some real high level super computer models running) it is hard to imagine what they might know.  For one I believe it to be other worldly that astronomers figured out how to measure gravity waves.  Talk about precision.

Just can't understand though how drilling and pressure testing were scheduled to overlap.  Rookie mistake?  Hubris?  Carelessness?

[Putncalls]

When there are that many millions involved the math gets done more than once. It might not matter much if they are off a by a few weeks.

[Thylacine-2]

One answer would be one or more of the appraisal engineers might have requested a different testing technique . There is much we don't know and may never know . What matters is how much gas and is it connected . There is a requirement for new estimates by March 31st. Could explain timing . Second guessing the team without all the info seems a bit silly except to pass the time . To assume Total doesn't know what it's doing is even more nonsense . Something else is going on that we are not part of and never will be best guess.

It is impossible for me to conceive how wells in a sedimentary formations having the depth and porosity of E/A's could not be connected.  The connectivity thing is a given.  If their pressure models a are good enough (maybe they have some real high level super computer models running) it is hard to imagine what they might know.  For one I believe it to be other worldly that astronomers figured out how to measure gravity waves.  Talk about precision.

Just can't understand though how drilling and pressure testing were scheduled to overlap.  Rookie mistake?  Hubris?  Carelessness?

  I think the strongest possibility is that they didn't want to hold off starting A-6 because of the presssure test and were planning an intermission for Ant-6 all along.

[Li'loilady]

Might this "overlap" actually hasten things along?  A-6 stands ready for the next step.  Did Total prefer to be ready ahead of time – early rather than late?  Did they allow for unexpected complications in drilling A-6 but didn't encounter any (5 wks to res. top.)  Might it be reasonable, even realistic, to give Total the benefit of doubt on this?

I only know the answer to the last question.

Edit:  uh yeah...what Thy said.