Falcon Oil and Gas has announced the spudding of the Shenandoah South 1H (SS1H) horizontal well in exploration permit 117, located in the Beetaloo Sub-Basin, Northern Territory, Australia.
The Dublin-based oil and gas company and its partner Tamboran B2 have deployed the H&P (Helmerich & Payne) super-spec FlexRig Flex 3 Rig for drilling at SS1H well.
SS1H well includes a horizontal section of around 1,000m and targets the Amungee Member B-shale at an estimated target depth of 3,200m.
It is the first of two horizontal wells planned to be drilled in this year, around 60km south of the Amungee NW-2H (A2H) well site, located in the exploration permit (EP) 98.
The SS1H well is around 700m deeper than the A2H well, said Falcon.
Falcon CEO Philip O’Quigley said: “The spudding of the SS1H horizontal well, which is the first of the planned two horizontal wells to be drilled in 2023, is an exciting next step in the appraisal of the Beetaloo Sub-Basin.
“We are confident that learnings and results from the previous two Amungee wells drilled in EP 98, together with the two Santos-operated Tanumbirini wells drilled in EP 161 will have a positive impact on the outcome of the results from this SS1H well.”
Based on data from the two Santos-operated Tanumbirini wells in EP 161, the deeper reservoir in this area of the basin is expected to deliver higher pressures.
Falcon said that it will participate in the SS1H well at its full participating interest of 22.5% which, will create a drilling spacing unit (DSU) of 20,480 acres, under the Joint Operating Agreement.
Furthermore, the company is fully funded for its share of all costs related to the drilling and testing of the SS1H well.
In December last year, the A2H well was drilled to a total depth (TD) of 3,883m, including a 1,275m horizontal section within the Amungee Member B Shale.
In April this year, the operations to install production tubing were completed, and the well was subsequently re-opened in preparation for production flow testing.
In June, Falcon announced that the A2H well achieved a gas breakthrough, however, a potential skin inhibiting the flow of gas from the stimulated shale has been identified.
