Vintage Energy, Metgasco and Bridgeport give greenlight for Vali-3 well after gas confirmed at Vali-2
Vintage Energy is eyeing first production from its Vali gas discovery and flow-testing the Nangwarry carbon dioxide discovery as early as next year.
Following the confirmation of gas in the second well of Vintage Energy’s (ASX: VEN) 50%-owned Vali field in Queensland’s Cooper Basin, a third well has been given the go ahead after the nearby Odin-1 well has been completed.
Vintage and its Vali field joint venture partners Metgasco (ASX: MEL) and New Hope’s (ASX: NHC) subsidiary Bridgeport, which own 25% each, have approved the drilling of Vali-3.
The joint venture has already confirmed gas is present in Vali-1 ST1 and Vali-2 within the gas field with both wells now cased for future production.
This was followed up with news the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had granted authorisation to the partners to jointly market any gas produced from the field.
Vintage managing director Neil Gibbins said this was a “very exciting phase” as the company attempts to shore up a multi-well field at Vali.
Odin-1 well underway
Vali-3 will be started immediately after Odin-1 has been completed.
Odin-1 is also in the Cooper Basin, but part of the PRL 211 joint venture.
Vintage holds a 42.5% stake of PRL 211 and is the operator, while Metgasco and Bridgeport each own 21.25%, and Impress has the remaining 15%.
The Odin-1 exploration well was spudded on 15 May with drilling reaching 1,658m ahead of schedule.
Vintage noted drilling will reach the first target zone the Toolachee Formation this weekend.
The Odin structure has been de-risked by the success in the Vali-1 field 7km away where gas was hit in the Toolachee Formation there.
However, the well is being drilled to address a fault bounded Patchawarra Formation closure – up dip of a well drilled in 1987.
This well Strathmount-1 had been plugged and abandoned after it the hydrocarbon accumulation at the time was deemed non-commercial.
Vintage has now interpreted Strathmount-1 to have conventional gas pay in the Toolachee Formation and both conventional and low permeability gas pay in the Patchawarra Formation.
At Odin-1, the company is targeting gas in both these formations.
The Odin structure has a gross prospective resource of 3.6 billion cubic feet (1U low estimate), 12.6Bcf (2U best estimate), and 42.6Bcf (3U high estimate).
Early successes
“To-date, we have delivered success on the five well with which we have been involved (Vali-1 ST1, Vali-2, Nangwarry-1, Albany-1 ST1 and Albany-2), which is an outstanding result for any junior explorer,” Mr Gibbins said.
“We are also highly confident of a reserve upgrade at the Vali field due to gas discovered in the Toolachee Formation at Vali-2, which had not previously been included in the certification undertaken by ERCE,” he added.