Central Petroleum to begin testing of Surprise 1 in Armadeus Basin

Central Petroleum (ASX:CTP) will begin running extensive logging suites this weekend followed by the running of 7 inch casing at its Surprise-1 well in the Amadeus Basin after the well reached a total depth of 2,732 metres within the Pacoota Sandstone.

The company has continued to witness fair to good oil shows from the well since re-entry last month. Just before hitting the current total depth, the well intersected 20 metres of continuous oil flows within the Lower Stairway Sandstone to the Middle Stairway Sandstone intervals.

Central is planning to run electric logs in addition to the use of a modular formation dynamics tester (MDT) tool which measures formation pressures and samples reservoir fluids.

The data should help to establish the fluid content and hydrocarbon saturation of the reservoir, and to an extent permeability and producibility.

Depending on the outcome of the log and pressure data analyses, plans are to drill laterally into the best oil zones with a horizontal section or sections approaching about 500 metres or more in length.

The gas, with the high proportion of C2, C3, iC4/nC4 and iC5/nC5, supports the existence of an oil dominated hydrocarbon accumulation.

Meanwhile, preparations are also underway for drilling to a planned total depth of 3,450 metres.


Acreage Growth

Yesterday Central announced it had uncovered up to 260,000 square kilometres of additional unconventional play targets in the Amadeus, Eromanga, Wiso and Pedirka Basins in central Australia, through a review of historical and recent data.

This new acreage could increase the company’s total area of unconventional play potential to over 307,000 square kilometres.

Many of these horizons have been logged, sampled and analysed but not specifically for the purposes of unconventional exploration.

The potential for Central lies in the development of not just one play in one horizon, but underneath the known horizons such as the lower Larapinta Group in the Amadeus Basin and the Arthur Creek Formation in the Southern Georgina Basin, both well-known and independently assessed plays.

The company plans to drill the Mt Kitty well next year, which will test the unconventional potential of one or two of the additional play types.

Originally published at: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/22919/central-petroleum-to-begin-testing-of-surprise-1-in-armadeus-basin--22919.html