Australian independent Empire Energy is on track to this month spud its eagerly awarded Carpentaria-5H (C-5H) well on its Beetaloo basin shale gas acreage onshore Australia.
The company is now focused on taking the final investment decision for its Carpentaria pilot project, and commencement of gas deliveries from mid-2025, subject to receipt of all regulatory approval.
Empire in its third quarter operational update said that planning for the C-5H well’s drilling, stimulation and tie-in continued “in anticipation of November commencement”.
The operator has chartered Ensign Rig 965 to drill the well and lined up US services contractor Halliburton to perform the fracture stimulation. Long lead items, including drill casing and wellhead, have been secured.
Following consultation with traditional owners in August, some of the traditional owners are working on the C-5H well pad site, which Empire said is consistent with its strategy to maximise the benefits of the company’s activities for local landholders and communities.
The C-5H well will be drilled from the same well pad and will target the same Velkerri B shale as Carpentaria-2H (C-2H) and Carpentaria-3H (C-3H); with these three wells forming form the initial phase of the Carpentaria pilot project.
C-5H will be Empire’s longest drilled and stimulated horizontal shale well to date, and will target an approximate 3000-metre horizontal section with some 60 fracture stimulation stages. The C-5H fracture stimulation is expected to commence shortly after Ensign's rig is released. Unlike the previous wells, C-5H will be completed with a five and a half-inch casing and stimulation horsepower significantly increased to maximise gas productivity, noted the operator.
Empire said that C-5H will integrate the best completion practices from North American shale analogues and incorporate learnings from its C-2H and C-3H wells.
The goals of C-5H include executing a development scale well for the Carpentaria pilot project, optimising fracture stimulation design to achieve higher productivity and conducting a long-term production test to develop a Carpentaria-type curve for long laterals for full-field development planning.
Empire has a 10-year binding Gas Sales Agreement with the Northern Territory government to supply 25 terajoules per day from the Carpentaria pilot project commencing in 2025, plus an additional 10 TJ+ per day Option Supply.
“During the [third] quarter, the Empire team has been focused on preparation for delivering the Carpentaria-5H pilot development well later this year and the installation of the Carpentaria Gas Plant in 2025,” said Empire managing director, Alex Underwood.
“We have all approvals in place for the drilling and stimulation of Carpentaria-5H and we are progressing approvals for the commencement of gas sales through the plant into the McArthur River Gas Pipeline with the Northern Territory government and the Northern Land Council on behalf of traditional owners.”
Underwood added that Empire has selected a preferred financier and would update shareholders once that process reaches its conclusion.
Source: Upstream
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