Central Petroleum's newest well in the Amadeus Basin flowed gas at about 3.2 terajoules a day in its final test, below the company's target and below the rates from the two wells drilled right before it. The shortfall does not kill the well; Palm Valley 14 (PV14) will still add gas to a field Central is trying to keep supplied, just less than planned, which puts more weight on the next well in the two-well campaign.
A test that was still climbing when it stopped
The flow test on PV14 ran 90 minutes through a 3/4-inch choke. The gas rate was still rising slowly when the test ended, at a flowing tubing head pressure of 210 psi. No water or oil came up during the test. Central described the result as below target and below the output of PV12 and PV13, the field's two most recent wells.
A conventional well, no fracturing
PV14 is a conventional deviated well targeting the Pacoota sandstone, drilled to a total depth of 2,942 meters measured depth (2,096 meters true vertical depth). It passed through 200 meters of gross pay and 45 meters of net pay. Central did not hydraulically fracture the well.
A packer is a downhole seal that stops fluid from moving past a set point in the wellbore. Central set a final packer at 2,729 meters to isolate the sections where it expected water to enter. Later flows to vacuum at the surface showed water anyway. Central said that could be residual standing water clearing out over time, as happened at PV12, or water entering above the isolated section. The second case could call for more packers or, Central said, halt production.
Output target and timeline
Central expects an initial rate of about 3 to 4 terajoules a day once the well runs against typical gathering system backpressure, before any further clean-up or water ingress. PV14 is being completed as a gas producer. Tie-in to the Palm Valley production facility and gathering network is expected within weeks, with commissioning before the end of October.
Rig 974 moves 2.3 km to PV15
Ensign Rig 974 will now move to PV15, about 2.3 kilometers from PV14 at the surface. PV15 targets the southern flank of the Palm Valley anticline, closer to the field's crest and further up-dip from the water sources PV14 ran into. The two-well campaign aims to lift Central's upstream production at Palm Valley back to a plant sales capacity of about 14 terajoules a day and to produce at least 10 petajoules of gas over the two wells' lives.
Central holds 50% of the OL3 permit that covers Palm Valley. Echelon Resources holds 35% and Cue Energy Resources holds 15%.
