Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC (LON:AUL) said poor weather has delayed fraccing and testing of the Trzek-2 horizontal well targeting the Siekierki tight gas field in Poland. Results, which were originally due in December, are now expected by mid-March.
In an operational update, the group said the equipment has now been mobilised, after having been delayed longer than anticipated due to flooding following the sudden thaw of heavy snows and three weeks of sub zero conditions.
The fracture stimulation is planned to last up to 7 days after which the well will be flowed back to clean up the fracture fluids and then flow tested.
The flow test is planned to last between 15 and 30 days in order to allow the reservoir parameters to be accurately determined. It is anticipated that an announcement on the initial results of the fracture stimulation will be made in mid-February with a further announcement on flow rates in early/mid March.
Trzek-3, the second Siekierki multi fracced horizontal well, started drilling on January 26 and is expected to be completed, fracced and flow tested by the end of June. Trzek-3 targets a separate high in the Siekierki structure with a recoverable resource estimated at between 16 and 28 billion cubic feet.
Aurelian said it has signed a contract to drill two additional wells in the greater Siekierki area during the second half of 2011 with Polish drilling company Nafta Piła.
Energia Zachód (EZ), the operator of the Siekierki tght gas project and a 90 percent subsidiary of Aurelian, will now retain Nafta Pila's IDM 2000 drilling rig, which is currently drilling Trzek-3, and use it to test up to 100 bcf net to Aurelian of prospective resources in two separate prospects in the greater Siekierki area.
This additional prospectivity is in addition to the 346 bcf net to Aurelian of contingent resources currently being appraised in the main Siekierki tight gas project.
Chief executive Rowen Bainbridge said: "Whilst this weather related delay is frustrating, we are nonetheless pleased with the operational progress that we are making in our Siekierki tight gas project. We look forward to providing further updates on the fracture stimulation and flow test at Trzek-2 later this month. We are also pleased to have retained Nafta Piła's state of the art rig for another two wells in 2011 targeting up to 100 bcf of incremental prospective resources in the greater Siekierki area."