Providence Reports Successful Flow Test at Barryroe

Irish oil explorer Providence Resources announced Thursday that its Barryroe appraisal well, offshore southern Ireland, has successfully flowed oil and gas.

The 48/24-10z Barryroe appraisal well is located in around 320 feet (100 meter) water depth, approximately 30 miles (50 kilometers) offshore Ireland in Standard Exploration Licence (SEL) 1/11 in the North Celtic Sea Basin. Providence (with an 80-percent interest) operates SEL 1/11 on behalf of its partner Lansdowne Oil & Gas plc (20 percent).

A 24-feet thick net pay interval in the oil bearing basal Wealden sandstone section was perforated as the first phase of the well testing programme. Stabilised flow rates of 3,514 barrels of oil per day and 2.9 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (4,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day) were achieved through a 68/64-inch choke with a well head pressure of 517 pounds per square inch without the use of artificial lift.

The well was tested using vacuum insulated tubing over just the upper 2,600 feet of the total 7,400 feet test string length due to equipment availability constraints. As expected, laboratory reservoir fluid analysis confirms that the oil is light with a gravity of 42-degree API and a wax content of 20 percent. The oil is highly mobile with an in-situ reservoir viscosity of 0.68 centipoises and a gas-oil ratio of c. 800 SCF/STB (standard cubic foot per stock tank barrel).

The upper gas bearing basal reservoir zone is currently being prepared for testing and flow rates from this section are planned to be comingled with the basal oil zone to assess any additional flow rate potential. After these operations are completed, it is planned to suspend the well for potential sidetrack drilling. All data obtained from these operations will be integrated with the 3D seismic acquired in 2011.

"We are pleased to report flow rates of 3,514 bopd which materially exceed our stated pre-drill target of 1,800 bopd. The well has also confirmed that the basal sands are laterally continuous, highly productive and that the oils are of a very high quality," said Providence CEO Tony O’Reilly.

"Our comprehensive wire-line logging programme has revealed the seismic signature of the basal sands and can therefore be used to map these intervals directly in the 3D seismic volume for field volumetric determinations and sidetrack well planning. The most recent development planning carried out by RPS Energy cites the use of high angle oil production wells which should provide significant incremental production potential over this simple vertical well."
 


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