Slow and steady wins the race is the mantra that Strike Energy has clearly embraced with its Jaws-1, super-deep coal seam gas well in the Cooper Basin, South Australia, as the ASX listed company continues to achieve greater continuous flows of gas.
The company said that increased gas flows have been achieved as more coal enters the critical desorption window.
These flows are indicative of matrix desorption now occurring, which Strike expects to spread throughout the depressurised area of the reservoir.
Management said it is continuing to manage the reservoir drawdown carefully to ensure the maximum volume of coal remains in communication with the well whilst entering the desorption window.
Water production has also remained steady which is an indicator that continued fluid recovery will lead to more gas production growth.
Additionally, pump speeds have been kept flat throughout this period with bottom hole pressures only reducing by a few PSI per day. This is an indicator that permeability has been retained throughout the reservoir according to the company.
The super-deep, horizontal Jaws-1 well at Strike’s 66.67%-owned Southern Cooper Basin gas project is designed to develop gas flows from what would be Australia’s deepest commercial coal seam gas deposit.
Once gas flow is established, the company will be able to book a reserve, which will set the stage for moving the project into development.
The broader project area could host more than 11 trillion cubic feet of gas according to Strike and it benefits from easy access to gas transport infrastructure nearby.
Strike also has a ready buyer for its gas with Orora Limited locking down an option to purchase up to 4.5 petajoules of gas per year from the project for a 10 year period.
There is still some way to go before the company can really assess how successful Jaws-1 is, but all the indicators to date are positive with gas flows continuing to grow at a steady pace while water production remains steady. The new year is potentially looking interesting for this rapidly advancing oil and gas junior.
