Winchester Energy identifies more oil shows at Mustang prospect
Winchester Energy’s White Hat 20#3 well has observed encouraging oil shows within the secondary Ellenburger Formation.
US-focused oil producer Winchester Energy (ASX: WEL) has continued its successful run in Texas’ Permian Basin after oil shows were confirmed in the Ellenburger Formation of the White Hat 20#3 well, with work now underway to determine oil production potential.
The oil producer and explorer has been drilling the White Hat 20#3 well targeting the Mustang prospect for the past few weeks, with the company having reached a total depth of 6,796 feet at the well.
Approximately 100ft of the well’s second primary target, the Ellenburger Formation, has been drilled with oil shows observed over a 50ft interval, from 6,740ft to 6,790ft.
Having uncovered the presence of oil, the Perth-headquartered company informed shareholders today that the well was being swabbed to determine the rate, if any, of oil production from the Ellenburger.
To date, the Ellenburger formation has produced 150,000 barrels of oil with an initial production rate of 100 barrels of oil per day (bopd) from the JF#3, 420m to the south-west at the same structural level as White Hat 20#3.
Winchester managing director Neville Henry described the indication of oil in the Ellenburger Formation as a bonus for the well.
“There is potential for the Ellenburger Formation to be a second producing zone in White Hat 20#3 and we will be determining its potential through an immediate swabbing program with the drilling rig on site,” he said.
Strawn Sand target
Winchester has a 75% working interest in the drilling of White Hat 20#3, with private company Carl E Gungoll Exploration holding the remaining 25% stake.
In light of the Ellenburger evaluation, Winchester said it had agreed with its US partner to test the primary Strawn Sand target.
According to Winchester, wireline log interpretation of the primary Strawn Sand target has indicated 28ft of net oil pay from a gross 52ft oil-bearing interval between 5918-5970ft.
Initial production testing of Strawn Sand will be followed by fracture stimulation, similar to that performed in the successful White Hat 20#2 which had an initial completion rate of 20bopd. After fracture stimulation was completed, flow rates jumped to 200bopd.
“We remain excited by the Strawn Sand discovery in White Hat 20#3 as it means there are now two wells on the Mustang Prospect with over 40ft of gross sand that support our interpretation from 3D seismic mapping and extensive well control that a significant Strawn Sand stratigraphic trap is present that has not been previously recognised,” Mr Henry said.
“Further wells are required to be drilled to determine the ultimate size of the oil resource present in the Strawn Sand.”
Drilling campaign
Targeting the Mustang prospect, White Hat 20#3 is the first in a three-well exploration campaign planned across Winchester’s Permian Basin acreage, with the two remaining wells to target the Spitfire stratigraphic and El Dorado structural prospects.
Winchester is aiming to define a combined best to high estimate prospective resource of 7.8-17.5 million barrels of recoverable oil from its top three prospects.
As well as the Strawn and Ellenburger formations, other prospective units include several intervals within the Strawn and Canyon Sands package, and Wolfcamp ‘D’ high total organic carbon shale intervals, the Three Fingers Shale and Lower Penn Shale.