WellDog completes permeability tests in New South Wales for Ormil Energy
WellDog announced today that it has successfully completed a series of permeability tests for Ormil Energy Ltd (ASX: OMX) on the Illiwarra coal seams in the Apex Burragorang DDH1 coal seam gas (CSG) exploration well located in the PEL 454 tenement of New South Wales, Australia. The tests provided Ormil detailed subsurface reservoir data regarding the permeability and producibility of four coal seams intersected by the well, as that company reported last week. Ormil is a publicly listed company that has undertaken CSG and coal mine methane development programs in New South Wales in collaboration with privately held Apex Energy NL and other joint venture partners. CSG exploration in New South Wales has been the subject of intense discussion by environmental, agricultural and regulatory organizations over the past few years.
“Our experience has been that gathering a statistically significant amount of accurate reservoir data identifies the potential upsides and risks of a particular CSG development – and usually leads to consensus among various stakeholders on how to move forward,” said John M. Pope, Ph.D., CEO and Managing Director of WellDog. “Using such data to realize the upside and mitigate risk is key to building a sustainable CSG industry. We commend Ormil on having the management commitment and making the investment necessary to pursue a responsible development path in New South Wales.”
“It was critically important for Ormil to gather accurate information from this well,” said Tom Fontaine, Managing Director of Ormil. “WellDog’s performance was world class, and they will be our preferred contractor for future operations.”
WellDog is well-known in the industry for championing sustainable development practices. In 2008 it authored for the United States’ Department of Energy a best-practices guide to completing multiple seams in a single CSG well in the Powder River basin of Wyoming (http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/publications/SWCReports/2006FinalReports/2006WDI.pdf). From 2006 to 2007, Pope served on the Wyoming Governor’s CBM Water Use Task Force, which worked to identify and implement responsible CSG development practices in Wyoming. It has analyzed CSG reservoirs for dozens of operators and government bodies in hundreds of wells located in more than ten different basins in five countries and received multiple awards for its technologies and business model (https://www.welldog.com/awards/).
“Our service model is to provide high quality data in a cost effective manner so that operators are motivated to collect it and can afford to do so sufficiently to describe these inherently heterogeneous CSG reservoirs,” said Pope. “The difference between success and failure in a CSG development typically revolves around whether accurate and representative reservoir data is collected and used when planning and executing field development strategies.”
The PEL 454 tenement is currently being assessed by Ormil as a possible development target. Initial permeability results were overall positive, and the company currently awaits core desorption testing results.
About Ormil Ltd
Ormil Energy is a publicly listed ASX company that has formed a Joint Venture with public unlisted Apex Energy NL to explore for bypassed coal seam gas in previously mined areas in NSW. Ormil Energy can earn up to 50% in the combined PEL 454, 444 and 442 acreage (See previous ASX announcements). More information is available at www.ormilenergy.com.au.
About WellDog
WellDog (trade name of Gas Sensing Technology Corp and WellDog Pty Ltd) is a privately held company that applies a diverse set of innovative technologies to address the numerous critical needs of unconventional oil and gas and alternative energy industries in a high volume, low cost manner. Its flagship gas testing technical service has identified more than half a billion dollars worth of natural gas in hundreds of coals around the world over the past ten years, while enabling resource producers to leave more than a billion gallons of water in a pristine condition. WellDog now provides five business services to the coal seam gas and coal mining industries including gas testing, permeability testing, water reservoir monitoring gauges, downhole water/gas separation and re-injection, and reservoir engineering services. The company has offices in Laramie, Wyoming and in Brisbane and Roma, Queensland. More information is available at www.welldog.com.
