TMK completes drilling of Snow Leopard-1 in Mongolia
Sydney-listed TMK Energy, formerly Tamaska Oil and Gas, has completed the drilling and testing of the Snow Leopard-1 well within the Nariin Sukhait area of the Gurvantes XXXV CBM project in Mongolia, the company said on May 10.
The well was drilled to a total depth of 675 m with a total of 60 m of gassy coal intersected. Desorption testing of coal core to obtain definitive gas content data is ongoing as the cores continue to produce gas, TMK said.
Gas composition sampling and gas chromatography testing is ongoing and the results confirm that the gas has high methane concentrations between 94.4% and 98.8%, and low carbon dioxide values between 0.3% and 5.1%, the company added.
The drill site will now be rehabilitated in accordance with local requirements. The drill rig will mobilise to approximately 5 km east of the Snow Leopard-1 location, with the drilling of the second of the planned four-well drilling programme expected to start within the next week.
The next well, Snow Leopard – 2, is planned to target the same coal formations intersected in Snow Leopard-1. Drilling and testing of Snow Leopard – 2 are expected to take approximately four weeks. The drilling programme is being funded by TMK’s joint venture partner Talon Energy under an existing $4.65mn two-stage farm-out agreement executed in February last year. Initial funding of $1.5mn is allocated to the current four-well drilling and testing programme.
The Gurvantes project covers an area of 8,400 km2 and is situated around 20 km from the Chinese-Mongolian border and close to the northern China gas transmission and distribution network. TMK earlier this year completed the acquisition of Telmen Energy, which held a 100% interest in the Gurvantes XXXV project.