Predator Oil & Gas has hired NABI Construction to prepare the Snowcap-3 well site and production facility area onshore Trinidad, with site work underway immediately. The location will host Star Valley Drilling Rig 205 once preparation is complete.
Casing built around two targets
The Snowcap-3 drilling program has been prepared for regulatory approval. Predator changed the casing strategy and well design so that casing is set over and protects the primary target, the Herrera #8 Sand, before the well continues into the secondary target, the Herrera #1 Sand. Pre-drill forecasts indicate the Herrera #1 Sand may be overpressured, meaning fluid pressure in the zone could run above what depth alone would predict, a condition that shapes how a well is cased and controlled.
A 1955 test on the same sand
In the Snowcap-1 well, drilled in 1955, the sand tested light oil and associated gas, reaching a maximum initial unrestrained flow rate of 1,574 barrels of oil per day from a six-foot perforated interval. Snowcap-3 is aimed at a significantly thicker interval of the same sand.
Depth and timeline
Snowcap-3 will be drilled as a vertical well to a measured depth of approximately 5,450 feet, a process Predator expects to take around 20 days. Once drilling is complete, the company plans an extensive well testing program, following evaluation of the wireline logs, to establish the well's optimum stabilized daily oil flow rate.
