But things have not been going so well at the company’s Oklahoma acreage where its Ellis-4 well caved in, creating an obstruction that prevented the lower 330 metres being open hole logged.
The news has also not been good for Antares share price, which has slumped from 70c at the beginning of the year to 44.5c. The fall has been blamed on the company’s change in focus from its previous Whicher Range ambitions and the departure of Peter Alchurch and Tony Barton from the company’s management team.
Back in Turkey, analysis of the wireline logs from Velimese-2 indicates 16 metres of net gas sand in the Danisman Formation.
The 3D seismic is being remapped using new data to determine the size and extent of the accumulation.
Velimese-2 was spudded on July 4 by Turkiye Petrolleri AO, the operator of Area B of the Thrace Joint Venture (50-50 with Antares) and reached a total depth of 1500 metres by July 15.
The well is about 120km west of Istanbul in Turkey’s onshore Thrace Basin.
At Ellis-4 in Oklahoma, Antares has released the drilling rig working on the well.
In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Antares said a cased hole logging operation would collect data over the lower part of the hole.
The company said wireline logs had indicated potential hydrocarbon pay in the overlying Des Moines and Tonkawa formations, correlating with strong oil and gas shows while drilling.
Antares is the operator of Ellis-4 and has a 65% working interest.
It also holds a 92% interest in Ellis-3, also in Oklahoma. Perforation and fracture stimulation (if required) of the Morrow B interval is due this week.
Antares has had better news from Texas, where a new zone has boosted production at itsPorters Creek prospecct.
“A further zone at Porter’s Creek-1 was perforated yesterday between 7342–7348 feet over a 40 foot gross hydrocarbon bearing interval and, without fracture stimulation, began producing at a rate of approximately 1.1 million cubic feet per day and up to 50
barrels of condensate per day,” the company said.
The well has now been choked back to evaluate the reservoir potential and is currently producing with a flowing pressure of 3450 psi.
This is the upper-most hydrocarbon interval and the best reservoir development observed in this well, according to Antares. Only a six foot interval was perforated to allow for future fracture stimulation if required.
The Porters Creek well has been in production since May from the lower-most zone, which will be commingled with the current zone in due course. Due to mechanical requirements, the lower zones required perforation and production first before moving up to the best zone, the company said.
The well is operated by Mueller Exploration and Antares Energy holds a 25% working interest.
Back in Perth, Antares executive director James Cruickshank said the company’s declining share price had been a frustration but conceded that sometimes happened when a company changed is focus.
“We had shareholders saying they were there for Whicher Range,” he said.
“Also if you have management that have large shareholdings and they leave and sell down those holdings, that also has an impact.”
