Real Energy to test Queensland coal seam gas well

Real Energy (ASX:RLE) will soon have a firm idea of how well its Venus-1 coal seam gas well in Queensland’s Surat Basin performs after successfully completing stimulation work.

The company will carry out a three-month flow test from the end of March that is designed to carry out a controlled drawdown of the well to increase water influx rates, and induce gas breakout that will in turn be followed by increasing gas flow rates.

Results from the flow test will be used to design an extended pilot test, future production wells and inform on water handling requirements.

There have already been some positive signs for the company with a material improvement in water influx following the completion of stimulation based on short term water influx tests before and after stimulation.

Venus-1 had also demonstrated excellent gas shows during drilling with wireline logs indicating that it had intersected about 25m of gassy coal play.

Venus coal seam gas

The well is designed to prove initial gas breakout and increasing gas flows over the controlled draw down period as required to model and predict future gas flow rates and potentially commercial gas flow rates.

Should commercial flow rates be achieved, the company could start an aggressive appraisal program to certify sufficient gas reserves to secure gas sales agreements that would allow development to begin.

The 154sqkm Project Venus is located in the highly-prospective Walloon CSG fairway and currently has a prospective gas resource of 658 billion cubic feet, or about 694 petajoules.

It is immediately adjacent to existing gas infrastructure, which offers the potential for early cash flows.

Gas production from Venus will be timely given that the gas market on Australia’s east coast could face a supply shortfall in 2026.

Real Energy is currently in the process of merging with Pure Hydrogen. On completion of the merger on March 17, the combined company will be known as Pure Hydrogen.