Senex Energy (ASX: SXY) has spudded an unconventional gas exploration well that will provide information on the tight sands and deep coal seams in a new region of the Cooper Basin.
Paning-2 is located 1.2 kilometres southwest of Paning-1, which was drilled in 1980 by Delhi Petroleum as a conventional gas exploration well.
It will test the 36 square kilometre domal structure up-dip of Paning-1 at the top of the Patchawarra Formation that could host up to 2.1 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Primary targets include the he tight sandstones in the Toolachee, Epsilon and Patchawarra Formations, and thick coal seams in the Toolachee Formation. The Tirrawarra Sandstone, which underlies the Patchawarra Formation, also has potential as a tight sand play.
Senex will take extensive core samples from Paning-2 to allow petrophysical and gas content analysis of the target zones. This information will allow the design of future completion techniques to maximise flow rates and prove the commerciality of tight sand and deep coal formations.
At the completion of drilling, Paning-2 will be cased and suspended prior to fracture stimulation and subsequent flow testing in early 2013.
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