Strike’s Oz Jaws-1 Project Snag “Immaterial”: CEO

The impact of the difficult drillhole conditions, which Australian Strike Energy encountered this week at its Jaws-1 project in the Cooper Basin, is likely to be minimal, its managing director/CEO Stuart Nicholls told Natural Gas World April 12.

“Whilst we have lost some time to this remedial work it is a matter of days and when put in context of a 3-5 month de-watering period prior to commercial desorption it is deemed immaterial,” he said.

“The Jaws-1 project continues and Strike decided to conduct the cementing job at the toe of the 9-5/8” casing to stabilise the formation at the localized zone of embrittlement and to ensure the highest probability of completing the well with as minimum issues as possible. The lining of the horizontal section is critical to successfully delivering the wells objectives of commercial gas flows and a decision to fix this section of the hole now rather than later was deemed to be in the best interest of the final objective,” he said.

The horizontal well is the second of a two-well appraisal campaign designed to prove commercial flow rates of gas and assess the quality of Strike’s Southern Cooper Basin Gas Project in PEL96 (Strike 66.67% and operator, Energy World Corporation 33.33%).

Australian energy advisory firm EnergyQuest said in March that the outcome of Strike’s Jaws-1 well “will be critical for a number of east coast gas buyers”.

Nicholls said: “We look forward to updating the market shortly after the cement has cured and the drilling operations continue.”