“This is an exciting time for Impress, with the drilling program commencing in January,” the company said.
“By mid 2006, it is expected that Impress will be a considerably different company than it is today and be on the way to joining the league of mid tier oil producers.”
In addition, the company said results from the Mirage 3D seismic survey were encouraging for both exploration and production.
At the Mirage oil field in PEL 115, in which it has a 40% interest, Impress said the survey concluded the field covered 2.5 square kilometres in an “L” shaped feature broadly trending north to south. The Mirage-1 well appears to be just northeast of the crest of the feature, the company said. The Jindivik and Lightning structures, to the east of Mirage, were confirmed as targets.
Further detailed work was carried out on the data to locate better reservoir properties in the Murta Formation, it said. The results showed there was a broadly east west trending attribute anomaly to the north of the Mirage well.
The Mirage well appears to have intersected the southern part of this anomaly, it said.
In addition, the work indicated the previously drilled wells at Burruna, Plotosus and Wirrha were all drilled in areas with unfavourable ‘attribute’ characteristics. Analysis of these wells shows that despite oil shows in the Murta Formation there was no reservoir sand, according to Impress.
These results have helped identify three appraisal well locations, it said.
The first appraisal well, Mirage-2, will be about 580 metres northeast of Mirage-1 and is expected to start drilling on or about January 20.
The Jindivik and Lightning structures, which are east of Mirage, both have structural closure and favourable seismic attribute characteristics indicating reservoir in the Murta Formation, according to Impress. In addition, the structures lie in a favourable position to receive oil charge from the source areas to the north, it said.
Meanwhile, the Tomcat Prospect is updip from the Willpinnie-3 well, which flowed over 700 barrels per day of oil on test.
“Further analysis of the structure suggests a sizeable feature is present at Tomcat in the form of a fault closed structure updip from Willpinnie 3,” Impress aid.
“Further mapping and analysis is being undertaken of the area prior to picking a drilling location which is expected in mid January.”
Nearby in PEL 104 and PEL 111, Impress has planned a four-well drilling program as Jurassic oil tests west of Tirrawarra - Australia’s largest onshore oil field. To date, Impress said prospects and leads were recognized at Catalina, Ascender, Gannet, Liberator, Wirraway and Eagle.
Further seismic was recorded during late 2005 at Wirraway, Ascender and Gannet to mature the prospects to drillable status.
“The final drill locations will be determined by mid January and the rig is expected to arrive in the area after the PEL 115 drilling in approximately April 2006,” Impress said.
Meanwhile, PEL 115 operator Victoria Petroleum, which has finished a report on the Mirage and Ventura oil fields, said Mirage-1 is performing as expected and has produced over 37,000 barrels of oil to date from the Murta formation.
VicPet’s report says:
• The Mirage well is expected to have ultimate recoverable reserves of about 250,000 barrels to be produced over 12-years;
• Production could be increased to about 400 barrels per day and is expected to start in January.
• The well will produce under natural decline until about 2017.
• A representative original oil in place figure for the field is approximately 4.2 million barrels, with estimated recoverable reserves, under primary recovery, of over 1 million barrels. Impress considers that secondary recovery could increase this reserve to over 1.5 million barrels.
Impress says while this estimate is based on the performance of Mirage-1 and the 3D survey results, it expects the planned appraisal wells will intersect better reservoir sands in the Murta and have improved production.
“Following the drilling of the three appraisal wells, further information will be acquired prior to embarking on a field development program that could involve the drilling of up to seven wells,” it said.
Meanwhile, VicPet said the Ventura-1 well, which produces from the McKinlay formation, has intersected a limited reservoir.
The well, which has so far produced 11,000 barrels of oil, is expected to produce a total of 44,000 barrels over a three-year life.
“It must be emphasised that this is an estimate for the recovery from the Ventura-1 well only and not the Ventura Field,” Impress said.
“Further analysis of the 3D data is continuing and may well lead to further drilling locations.”
Impress said no further drilling would take place at Ventura during 2006.
