- 01Ramsay 3 hit a project-best 14,000bbl/day.
- 02Helium reached 12.6%; project average was 15.2%.
- 03Modelling indicates potential 37Mscf/day per well; pilot plans advance.
Gold Hydrogen (ASX: GHY) has completed Phase 2 of a helium flow testing program at the Ramsay 3 well within its onshore Ramsay project along South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
Ramsay 3 is a purpose-designed 7-inch diameter scale-up well providing approximately 2.3 times the wellbore cross-sectional area of the Ramsay 1 and Ramsay 2 wells and accommodating a high-capacity electrical submersible pump (ESP) rated at up to 20,000 barrels per day.
It provides an important opportunity to test the reservoir under significantly greater flow conditions than was possible from the previous 4½-inch cased wells.
Phase 1 of the Ramsay 3 program was conducted last month with the ESP set at approximately 730 metres in the lower section of the Kulpara Dolomite, delivering gross fluid rates of up to 13,000bbl/day.
Stepped-Rate Testing
The ESP was repositioned shallower within the 180m gross Kulpara Dolomite reservoir for Ramsay 3’s Phase 2 flow test, with a stepped-rate program conducted over a number of days.
Gross fluid rates were increased in stages to a maximum of approximately 14,000bbl/day (or around seven times the rates achieved at Ramsay 1 and Ramsay 2).
The Ramsay 3 fluid rate was achieved with an implied drawdown of approximately 350psi, consistent with the productivity index (well deliverability) of approximately 40bbl/day/psi reported for the well in mid-September and confirmed to be the highest rate at the Ramsay project to date.
Helium was flowed to surface and separated, with an air-corrected helium concentration of up to 12.6% recorded during testing.
Gas from the Ramsay flow test campaign was purified and bottled onsite, representing the first helium bottled in Australia since BOC’s Darwin-based plant—the only helium production facility in the southern hemisphere which supplied 3% of global and domestic demand—closed in late 2023.
Helium-Bearing Reservoir
Preliminary conclusions from the Ramsay flow test campaign confirmed a large, connected and highly productive helium-bearing Kulpara Dolomite reservoir across three wells spanning approximately 2.2 kilometres.
Project-wide sustained air-corrected helium concentrations averaged approximately 15.2%, compared with global commercial helium projects that can operate at concentrations as low as 1% where helium is generated as a by-product.
Project-wide modelling indicated a helium gas rate potential of up to 37 million standard cubic feet per day per well, or around 37% above the 27Mscf/day/well case identified as being potentially commercially viable in an independent high-level assessment by Worley Consulting.
The results support further evaluation of a commercial helium development using as few as two wells, consistent with Worley’s development case and subject to resource certification, engineering, as well as commercial and economic evaluation.
Gold Hydrogen is now accelerating plans for a staged modular helium pilot to leverage existing Ramsay wells to potentially reduce upfront capital requirements and shorten the pathway to initial production.
Commercial Development Plans
Managing director Neil McDonald said sustained helium concentrations across the project strengthened the basis for advancing the company’s commercial development plans.
“Completing our appraisal flow testing across all three Ramsay wells is a major milestone for us and the results provide compelling evidence of the scale, continuity and productivity of the helium-bearing reservoir,” he said.
“In less than three months, we have demonstrated helium flow to surface across three wells spanning approximately 2.2 kilometres, successfully purified and bottled helium onsite, achieved pumping rates of approximately 14,000 barrels of fluid per day at Ramsay 3, and we know that it can achieve the 20,000 barrels fluid per day due to the appraisal that has been undertaken.”
“We have made substantial progress in establishing the helium opportunity at Ramsay and our priority now is to translate that technical success into a credible development pathway that has potential to become an important future source of domestic supply.”
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