Elixir Energy Ltd (ASX:EXR, OTC:ELXPF) has started field operations for the stimulation, completion and flow testing of the Diona-1 well in the Surat-Bowen Basin in Queensland.
The company, operator and 49% holder of the ATP2077 Diona sub-block joint venture, said stimulation equipment had arrived at the well site and rigging up had started.
Operations will target three zones of measured Permian net gas-condensate pay through fracture stimulation, followed by completion of the well with 2-3/8” tubing using a workover rig.
Flow testing to assess resource potential
After stimulation and completion work, Elixir plans to rig up testing equipment and begin flow back, production testing and pressure monitoring. These operations are expected to start in around one week.
The testing program will collect and analyse hydrocarbon samples and measure flowing pressures from interpreted over-pressured Permian sands, within reservoir units that have either produced locally or tested successfully elsewhere in the Taroom Trough.
Results may provide the data needed to evaluate the resource potential of the Diona sub-block and determine whether Diona-1 sits inboard of the western edge of the Taroom Trough.
Success could confirm a greater westerly extent of the Taroom Trough across the Diona gas resource, potentially high-grading the sub-block and increasing the prospectivity of Elixir’s broader Taroom Trough acreage.
The Diona sub-block covers about 375 square kilometres, or 93,000 acres, gross.
Increased resources and commercialisation
Last week Elixir increased its independently certified 2C contingent gas resources in Queensland’s Taroom Trough by 24%, taking total resources across its basin-centred gas play portfolio to about 3.5 trillion cubic feet equivalent (TCFe).
The uplift follows Sproule ERCE’s certification of 662 billion cubic feet equivalent (BCFe) in new net 2C contingent resources at ATP2057, comprising 633 BCF of gas and 5 million barrels of condensate.
The company also took a step toward commercialising gas from its northern Taroom Trough acreage, signing an agreement with APA Group to assess the most cost-effective route to Queensland’s Wallumbilla Gas Hub.
The Early Works Agreement will examine the fastest and most economic pathway for gas from a proposed 40-terajoule-a-day Lorelle pilot project to reach Wallumbilla, a major wholesale trading and pipeline interconnection point linking Surat and Bowen Basin gas with east coast domestic markets and LNG export infrastructure.