Flow testing leads to ‘significant’ gas discovery at Po Valley’s Selva gas field

Po Valley Energy (ASX: PVE) has discovered “significant” gas at its 63%-owned Selva gas field in Italy’s north, with drilling intersecting two gas reservoirs and returning “strong gas flows” at Podere Maiar 1dir well.

Flow testing at the Podere Maiar 1dir exploration well in the field returned a peak flow rate of 1418,136 cubic metres per day (scm/day) in the C2 reservoir.

The C1 reservoir also reported strong flows with a peak rate of 129,658 scm/day on a 3/8-inch choke and good pressure recovery.

According to Po Valley, the strong flow rates, combined with the 99.1% high quality methane gas content, and the well’s proximity to Italy’s national gas grid, make it a “commercial discovery”.

“We are very pleased with the commercial discovery at Selva with our Podere Maiar 1dire well,” Po Valley chairman and chief executive officer Michael Masterman said.

“The strong flow rates achieved with small pressure differentials and fast recovery are above our expectations,” he added.

Italian authorities have been notified and attended the discovery site. Po Valley will now submit a production application to the Italian Government by mid-year and analyse the log and test results in the interim to develop reserve and resource estimates during the June quarter.

This latest discovery makes it Po Valley’s sixth success in the identifying gas in Italy’s gas fields in the Po Valley.

“The Podere Maiar discovery is very positive for both the Selva development and our nearby exploration target 7km away at Selva East,” Mr Masterman said.

The Selva gas field previously produced 83 billion cubic feet gas from 15 wells over 35 years.

In addition to Selva, Po Valley has a majority stake in numerous tenements across gas fields in northern Italy.

Via its subsidiary Saffron Energy, Po Valley is producing from the Sillaro and Bezzecca gas fields.

During the September quarter last year, Po Valley produced 2,481 million cubic metres of gas, generating A$750,000 in revenue.

Po Valley’s share price sky-rocketed to settle at A$0.074 just after mid-day – up 85%.