Norwest Restarts Test Flow on Arrowsmith-2 Shale Well

Norwest Energy has restarted flow testing operations at its Arrowsmith-2 unconventional shale gas well in the north Perth Basin, Western Australia.

In December, the well was shut in at the conclusion of Kockatea swabbing operations to monitor pressure build-up characteristics of the fracture stimulated zone. About 78% of the injected fracture fluids have been recovered from the Kockatea after swabbing the well to a maximum planned depth of 2,600 metres.

Data acquired from this program, and other regional oil production information will assist in providing the necessary dataset for evaluators to work towards producing a resource booking on the Kockatea Shale. Once evaluation of the Kockatea is complete, the interval will be isolated and the plug milled out between the Kockatea Shale and the Carynginia Formation. This will enable flow back and clean-up to recommence on the Carynginia interval. This will start once the necessary equipment becomes available, currently estimated to be towards the end of this month. It is anticipated that the testing of all remaining zones will take about 3-4 months.