Petsec Energy (PSA) is pleased to advise that the first horizontal well on its shale oil project in the Western Sedimentary Basin of Alberta, Canada was spud in the week of the 19th November 2012.
The well is expected to take 30 days to drill and case to its target depth, after which it will be fracced and completed for production. The estimated cost of lease acquisition and participation in the horizontal well to the Company is US$3 million for its 25% working interest.
Productivity of the well should be known in mid first quarter of 2013, following clean-up of the fraccing fluids in the well. The well, if successful, has the potential to indicate a recoverable resource in the order of 10 to 15 million barrels of oil within Petsec Energy’s net 6,434 lease acres which the Company holds within the joint venture leases of 26,080 acres.
Petsec Energy’s Chairman, Terry Fern, said “Success in this horizontal well will be a strong indicator of the potential of this Canadian shale oil play and would pave the way for an active drilling and acquisition programme”.
The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin contains one of the world’s largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas. It is Canada’s largest hydrocarbon producing province, with production to date in excess of 13.7 billion barrels of oil and 47 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
