The company today said the Timmy-1 vertical production well has been placed on pump after the two lateral wells, Timmy-2 and -3 were flushed, cleaned and a new pump was installed in Timmy-1.

Molopo said the intersecting laterals, Timmy-2 and -3, have a combined in-seam length of 1927m in separate seams.

The Timmy well was previously placed on a very brief production test prior to pump failure. Molopo said it yielded very high water production rates, when compared to lateral wells drilled in the Mungi and Harcourt gas fields, indicating potentially higher permeability and gas flow rates.

To prepare for production testing today, a workover was completed on the vertical and fully lined lateral wells, establishing effective fluid communication between Timmy-1 and each lateral well.

Timmy-1, -2 and -3 are located in ATP602P, which covers an area of 310 square kilometres.

The area contains the Timmy Prospect, which was previously drilled by Conoco, where a production test well flowed 150,000 cubic feet per day using older stimulation techniques.

Molopo said no reserves have been established at Timmy. But it is estimated that the target coals exceed 11m, with gas contents predicted to be between eight and 10 cubic metres per tonne.

“These characteristics, combined with the large prospect area, suggest a substantial in-place gas resource,” it said.

Production results will be announced once dewatering has been completed.

Participants in ATP602P are Molopo with a 25% interest, Helm Energy Australia (25%), operator Anglo Coal (25.5%) and Mitsui Moura Investment (24.5%).