Press Release Source: Empire Energy Corporation International
Drilling Starts at Bellevue #1 in Search for Oil, Gas, Coal Bed Methane and Helium in Tasmania
Thursday September 18, 4:34 pm ET
LEAWOOD, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Empire Energy Corporation International (OTCBB: EEGC - News) today announced that a contractor for its Australian subsidiary, Great South Land Minerals, Ltd. (GSLM), began drilling the 1,150 foot (350 meter) deep top hole for an oil and gas well on September 17 at the Bellevue #1 site in central Tasmania. Government permission was granted last week, equipment is on site and drilling is underway now. The Hunt Energy oil and gas drilling rig #3 is in Tasmania ready to move to the Bellevue #1 well site and it is planned to set up and begin deep drilling to 9,200 feet (2,800 meters) as soon as the top open hole is completed.
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GSLM spudded the 1,150 foot (350 meter) Bellevue #1 17.5 inch top hole on September 16 using an open hole percussion compressed air hammer exploration rig provided by local Tasmanian company, Spaulding Drillers, to penetrate the hard diabase (dolerite) Domal Cap rock. Spaulding has previously pre-collared, cased and cemented 5000psi API rated 4.5 inch pipe to which blow out preventers were attached in seven stratigraphic holes within the Tasmanian Basin.
On the Bellevue #1 well site, Spaulding has now drilled a 12 inch hole and put in a 10 inch conductor pipe to 50 feet (15 meters) and is now drilling an 8.5 inch pilot hole to about 1,150 feet (350 meters) which will be reamed to 17.5 inches. The Hunt rig will then install and cement 13.5 inch casing to which they will nipple up and test the Blow Out Preventers (BOP). Hunt will then drill a 12.5 inch hole to 5,400 feet (1,650 meters) testing the full section of the late Carboniferous, Permian and Triassic sections and run wireline logs and Drill Stem Tests (DST). Next they will run and cement 9.63 inch intermediate casing, drill ahead an 8.5 inch production hole to 9,200 feet (2,800 meters) and run wire line logs and DST on the open hole. Based on test results, GSLM will either case and suspend, plug and abandon or produce the well.
Bellevue #1 will be GSLM’s eighth well but its first conventional petroleum well drilled on a seismically defined structure which has also been defined by our recent gravity survey and is clearly defined in our gravity database.
Empire Chief Geologist and Chairman Dr. Clive Burrett said, “Our recently completed Bellevue #1 site is geologically and logistically very good and is at the overlap of three of the seismic lines, BZ, BQ and TB, that define the closure of the huge Bellevue Anticline (dome). We have now spudded into the Jurassic dolerite which provides a thick and effective regional seal. Under the dolerite, it is anticipated that we will intersect eight potential reservoir formations. These include Triassic and Permian freshwater sandstones and associated coal measures which are closely analogous to producing reservoirs in the Cooper Basin (Australia) and in the South Oman Basin (Oman). The Triassic is expected at about 500-600 meters depth and the Permian Liffey group is expected at about 1,000-1,200 meters depth. We plan to carry out flow tests on the coal and sands for oil, gas and coal bed methane. Beneath the Permian sands we expect 150 meters of Early Permian Quamby Mudstone at a depth of around 1,200 to 1,400 meters that is similar to the Sprayberry Formation in West Texas. We expect the Quamby Formation to contain the Tasmanite Oil Shale at a depth of around 1,300-1,400 meters which is the world standard for Type 1 kerogen and one of the richest oil source rocks in the world. Based on geochemical data, government geologists have calculated that the Tasmanite Oil Shale and the Quamby Formation could have generated 9.5 barrels per square meter of basin area or over 150 billion barrels of oil over the whole Tasmania Basin. Even if only 1% of this has been trapped and is recoverable, we still have a very significant prospective resource of over 1 billion barrels. Unconformably beneath this Permian section, at about 1,800 meters, we have potential reservoirs and seals in the Siluro-Devonian Eldon Group which group is analogous to similar sequences in the Appalachians. At about 2,700 meters, we expect to test the Gordon Limestone, which is analogous to producing reservoirs in the Amadeus Basin in central Australia, the Trenton and Viola Formations of the USA and the Ordovician limestones of the Tarim Basin (China). After drilling, mud logging, flow testing and wireline logging is finished, we plan a borehole seismic survey which will, for the first time, give us accurate velocity information for the Early Paleozoic sequence and provide an ideal seismic trace at the well-bore to correlate with the surface seismic. This new data will be very helpful for our ongoing seismic exploration in Tasmania. Work on permitting and engineering planning for our next well, Thunderbolt #1, which is also on a huge, independently verified, seismically, geologically and geophysically defined anticlinal (dome) structure, is complete and has been submitted for approval.”
Empire has recently received a loan of AUD$5 million from Hong Kong-based Smart Win International Limited that is guaranteed by CEO Malcolm Bendall. Empire is currently negotiating a joint venture agreement with Smart Win which could provide cancellation of the loan as part of AUD$45 million in funding relating to development of its license area.
Malcolm Bendall, founder and CEO of Empire and GSLM, stated, “I have been looking forward to testing the oil, gas and coal bed methane potential of the previously untested Tasmania Basin for 30 years. We will be watching the progress of the drilling and testing closely to gather all the information possible to improve our database and improve our future drilling chances of success. Based on 30 years of studies, we believe this well has a great chance of success. We may potentially discover gas to fill the existing Bass Strait pipeline built by Duke Energy and provide east Australia and Tasmania with a new source of oil and gas.
“We plan also to travel to Hong Kong soon to complete negotiations and sign off on the joint venture agreement with Smart Win that will potentially allow us to continue nonstop drilling of the other sites we have identified in the area. We have submitted permit applications for our Thunderbolt #1 well and intend to start site preparation and pre-collar drilling as soon as we have government permission, which we expect to receive soon enough to move the Spaulding rig directly from Bellevue #1 to Thunderbolt #1. We have significant preparatory work underway on other sites as well and have submitted an application for an additional Special Exploration License to explore areas we believe to be prospective for coal bed methane in central and eastern Tasmania. We believe Bellevue may be prospective for coal bed methane as well.”
Empire Energy is an international oil and gas exploration company, focusing on developing assets in one of the world's last virgin basins and to become a leading low-cost finder of hydrocarbons. The Company is currently operating in Tasmania's central and northern basins.
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on our current expectations about our company and our industry. You can identify these forward-looking statements when you see us using the words such as "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believes," "plans" and other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of our ability to complete required financings and other preconditions to the completion of the transactions described herein and Empire's ability to successfully acquire reserves and produce its resources among other issues. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future. We caution you not to place undue reliance on those statements. For a more detailed discussion of risks and other factors related to Empire Energy Corporation Int'l, please refer to its 10-KSB and 10 Q reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
Empire Energy
John Garrison, 877-663-2310
President
or
Eisenberg Communications
Rick Eisenberg, 212-496-6828
Source: Empire Energy Corporation International
