Xstate Resources has convened a joint venture technical committee meeting to clear a column of completion fluid slowing production testing at its newly discovered Diona-1 gas well in Queensland.
Located in the Surat-Bowen Basin, the Diona-1 well is a confirmed gas discovery on permit ATP2077, held by Xstate and project operator Elixir Energy.
While the well has consistently flowed and flared gas during a fortnight of production testing, unrestricted flow is currently being choked by a heavy column of leftover stimulation fluid.
Initial rocking techniques, cycling the well shut and open, alongside chemical surfactant treatments successfully recovered roughly 46 per cent of the fluid.
However, the company decided to temporarily shut in the well because the process is too slow to reach the target recovery rate of more than 50 per cent.
The decision will also allow the company to monitor the pressure build-up and allow data to be gathered for further analysis.
During the shut-in period, engineers have monitored a strong surface wellhead pressure build-up of approximately 1,600 psi, which the company states confirms robust underlying reservoir pressure.
The technical committee is currently weighing three routine engineering alternatives to rapidly clear the remaining fluid.
These options include installing narrow-diameter capillary tubing to continuously inject foaming agents, using nitrogen gas or foam lift to lighten the fluid column, or inserting a downhole velocity string to increase gas velocity and sweep liquids to the surface.
Xstate Managing Director Andrew Bald remains highly confident that the engineering hurdle is a temporary operational flowback issue rather than a failure of the reservoir itself.
“The Diona-1 well remains a significant discovery for Xstate, extending the western boundary of the Taroom Trough unconventional play,” Bald said.
“The gas is there, it’s flaring, we simply have to offload the fluids and reduce the column to the point where gas will flow unrestricted, at which point we will know what this well is capable of producing.”
Once the fluids are cleared, Xstate plans to connect the well to a nearby pipeline for long-term production testing.