Project Profile
Location: Cooper Basin
Area: 1.20 sq km
Senex commenced a 12-well unconventional gas exploration program with the spudding of the Paning-2 well in northern Cooper Basin permit PEL 90. The targeted total depth of the well was 3,175 metres. 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. The Paning-2 well is the first unconventional gas exploration well to be drilled in the region and is designed to provide valuable information about the potential for gas production from the tight sands and deep coal seams of this new region. Paning-2 will test the domal structure up-dip of Paning-1 at the top of the Patchawarra Formation; the structure covers an area of more than 36 square kilometres (9,000 acres). The primary targets are the 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. The Paning-2 well is the first exploration well to test the potential of the Permian tight sand sequence that exists within the entire Patchawarra Trough.
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.
Operator:
Senex: Operator with 100% interest
Contractors:
Weatherford: Drilling contractor using Weatherford Rig 826