Providence Resources P.l.c., today provided a final testing update from its Barryroe well, offshore southern Ireland.
The 48/24-10z Barryroe appraisal well is located in approximately 100 metre water depth, some 50 kilometres offshore Ireland in Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. Providence (80%) operates SEL 1/11 on behalf of its partner Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc (20%).
Following the successful testing of the lower basal 24′ net oil bearing interval, which flowed c. 3,514 BOPD & 2.93 MMSCFGD (c. 4,000 BOEPD, see RNS announcement of March 15th), an additional 17′ thick net gas bearing section was perforated to test the potential of the upper part of the basal Wealden sandstone section. The surface test spread equipment was optimized for the lower oil zone test and was therefore equipment constrained on this gas zone test, which achieved highly productive flow rates of c. 7 MMSCFGD & 1,350 BOPD (c. 2,516 BOEPD) through a restricted 36/64″ choke, with a flowing well head pressure of c. 1,700 psig.
The productivity of the gas bearing interval far exceeded expectations and thereby constrained the ability to fully open the well up to its maximum potential. Preliminary modeling of the pressure data indicates that a co-mingled flow rate of c. 17 MMSCFGD & 3,350 BOPD (c. 6,183 BOEPD) at a flowing well head pressure of c. 500 psig is achievable. Well suspension operations are now complete and the rig will be demobilized to the UK imminently.
Commenting on this further successful test, Tony O’Reilly, CEO of Providence said:
“We are very pleased to confirm that the gas zone was far more productive than we had anticipated. The well lies just 3 km from installed pipeline infrastructure which may provide a future route to monetize any surplus Barryroe gas production. It is particularly pleasing to note that both the oil and gas zones have far exceeded our pre-drill expectations, both in terms of reservoir development and more importantly, oil and gas flow rates. I once again wish to express our thanks to all involved in this testing programme, which has demonstrated such a substantial cumulative flow rate potential from this vertical Barryroe appraisal well.”
[mappress] Source: Providence Resources, March 23, 2012