PGNiG Happy with Initial Przemysl Revamp
Poland's PGNiG, the majority state-owned gas importer and producer, said August 9 it has successfully revamped a well that it first drilled 49 years ago in southeast Poland, not far from its border with Ukraine.
In June and July this year, the company deepened the Przemysl-49 well by further 200 meters, reaching a new deeper-level 'VIIIa' gas layer. It did so on the basis of geological surveys two years ago, indicating reserves lower down. As a result, PGNiG has now said it has increased the well's output, and now expects to produce 25mn m3/yr of high-methane gas from Przemysl-49; the well will be connected up to gas infrastructure within a month. It is the first to produce gas from this deeper VIIIa layer. The next well to be revamped by PGNiG will be Przemysl-47 where production was abandoned in 2000.
Przemysl is Poland's largest gas field and has produced for 60 years. Years ago the field's resources were estimated at 72bn m3, of which over 65bn m3 has since been extracted, thus being almost depleted.
Six months ago however PGNiG estimated that its Przemysl gas field's resource base may be nearly 25% greater than first estimated, representing roughly an extra 20bn m3 of gas.