TAG flows more oil from Sidewinder, Cheal
This posting was found on petroleumnews.net. It has a little more information than the News Release
Neil Ritchie, New Zealand
Friday, 12 August 2011
THE good news continues to flow from TAG Oil’s onshore Taranaki Sidewinder and Cheal fields, as does the good oil, with strong test results from the Sidewinder-2 and Cheal-C1 wells.
The Ensign 19 rig drilling TAG Oil's Sidewinder-2 well in Taranaki, NZ
The Vancouver-headquartered company said overnight the test results confirmed “new oil and gas discoveries”.
It recently completed flow testing of the last two of the five Miocene-aged oil and gas-bearing zones encountered during the drilling of Sidewinder-2 early this year. These two zones were encountered in the shallower Urenui Formation and in the lower Mount Messenger Formation, below the main Sidewinder gas zone discovery.
TAG said the oil-bearing sands in the lower Mt Messenger section, found at depths of about 1800m, were of particular importance as the company had recovered “significant volumes” of light oil during recent swab testing.
Chief operating officer Drew Cadenhead told EnergyNewsBulletin in New Plymouth this morning that TAG could not easily quantify the volumes likely to be produced during flow testing as Sidewinder-2 oil from the lower Mt Messenger was waxy, though not as waxy as Cheal oil.
“With these waxy oils, they only flow naturally for a while and then they clump in the storage tank,” Cadenhead said.
However, technical data suggested this oil zone could produce at rates consistent with other established Mt Messenger oil wells in the immediate area, such as Tag’s more southern Cheal field.
“These oil-bearing Mt Messenger sands are interpreted to be widespread in the Sidewinder permit area and will be a primary target in future exploration wells,” he said.
Cadenhead said TAG would proceed to commercialise oil production from the lower Mt Messenger zone, acquiring artificial lifting equipment best suited to the overall Sidewinder exploration and development strategy.
He added that gas discovered in the shallow Urenui formation, at a depth of about 1400m, also interested TAG.
That zone had flowed clean, dry gas at rates ranging from 1-2 million cubic feet of gas per day, about 167-333 barrel of oil equivalent per day, through various choke sizes.
Production from the Urenui zone could now be commercialised by co-mingling with the main Sidewinder gas discovery zone.
TAG chief executive Garth Johnson said: "We continue to achieve excellent exploration results which indicate that TAG has potentially discovered a large oil and gas field at Sidewinder.
“In addition to the prolific main gas zone discovered, there are now two significant high-impact discovery zones to pursue in this acreage.”
Johnson said the new Mt Messenger oil discovery would add to the more than 5000boepd of “behind-pipe” production capability ready to come onstream, largely from Sidewinder when commissioning of the associated production station started in mid-September.
TAG has just applied for a 40-year mining licence for the Sidewinder exploration lease PEP 38748.
The company said testing of the Cheal-C1 exploration well had confirmed and oil and gas discovery in the Cheal C area, previously known as Cardiff, in its 100% controlled lease PEP 38156.
Cheal-C1 intercepted oil and gas-bearing sands in the Mt Messenger, which produced 1.5-3 million cubic feet per day of clean dry gas during testing. There were also “substantial volumes” of light oil produced during swab testing.
Again, Cadenhead said it was difficult to measure volumes of oil produced due to it solidifying “but we are confident it is capable of flowing well”.
TAG estimates production capabilities from Cheal-C1 to be similar to the sidetracked Cheal-B4ST well that recently flowed 360 barrels of oil plus 240 thousand cubic feet of gas per day.
Artificial lifting equipment is being acquired to establish daily oil production rates at Cheal-C1, which also encountered strong oil shows within a 73m-thick sandstone section within the deeper Moki Formation. This zone was also tested but commercial flow rates were not achieved.
TAG's technical interpretation indicated that Cheal-C1 penetrated a "transitional zone" where oil migrated through the contacted zone into a large structural closure, updip from the Cheal-C1 penetration.
Given the extensive oil shows recorded while drilling, coupled with the excellent reservoir quality interpreted from electric logs, TAG is planning a new well to directly target the Moki prospect but to be drilled from a more optimal location on the structure.
“I’m pleased to achieve such positive results from the Cheal-C1 well, significantly expanding the Cheal development area,” Johnson said.
“We expect to commercialise the Cheal-C1 discovery in conjunction with appraisal drilling included in our next drilling campaign, scheduled to start in September.”
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