Petrofrontier and Baraka McIntyre Spud in Search of Unconventional Oil

Petrofrontier Corporation and Baraka Energy & Resources have announced the spudding of the McIntyre 2 well in the Georgina Basin.

The well, at the EP127 block in Basal Arthur Creek Shale zone, will be drilled to a vertical depth of 770 metres, and then at least 500 metres horizontally into the shale, Baraka Energy said in a statement on Monday.

Petrofrontier has a 75% operator interest in the northern Australian onshore well, with Baraka Energy holding the remaining 25%.

Baraka Energy pointed out it holds a 75% working interest in 75 square kilometres of EP127 around the Elkedra 7 well, where the presence of oil has been found, suggesting the area “could be of significant value in the event of a successful discovery”.

Petrofrontier recently successfully completed the Baldwin 2 well in the Georgina Basin on EP103 about 60 kilometres away.

Once MacIntyre 2 has been drilled, Petrofrontier intends to engage Schlumberger to hydraulic fracture and complete the well using multi-stage open hole techniques, with similar plans for Baldwin 2.

The program is believed to be the first use of open hole horizontal and multi-stage fracking technologies to unlock unconventional oil potential in Australia.

“These technologies have been widely successful in unlocking North American unconventional oil reservoirs such as the Bakken formation”, Baraka Energy said, adding the new processes gave the partners “every chance of establishing commercial production”.