Norwest Energy Flows Good Volumes Of Water And Gas From Arrowsmith-2

Norwest Energy (ASX: NWE) continues to flow back good volumes of water and gas from Stage 3 and 4 of its Arrowsmith-2 hydraulic fracture stimulation and is currently preparing to frac the Kockatea Shale.

The well is flaring gas and while Norwest chief executive officer Peter Munachen is hopeful of achieving a stabilised flow rate soon, he cautioned that the majority of the frac water had to be flowed back first.

He added that the target shales in Stage 3 and Stage 4 will respond differently from the tight sandstone targets in the High Cliff Sandstone.

"Longer flowback is better, we will evaluate in the next several days how well it flows."

Stage 3 and 4, which fracced the Lower Carynginia Formation (between 2890 metres and 2940 metres) and Middle Carynginia Formation (2824 metres and 2875 metres) are being flowed back together for a period of seven days, which will be reviewed during the course of this week.

The company will then carry out the fifth and final stage of fraccing the Kockatea, which is well known as the source rock for hydrocarbons in the Perth Basin.

At the conclusion of the Kockatea stage, the campaign equipment will be de-rigged and de-mobilised while the joint venture evaluates the results of the program to determine future activities.

Arrowsmith-2

Norwest noted that an extended flow test carried out over several months will be required to fully evaluate the commercial potential of the High Cliff Sandstone, which had flowed at a maximum rate of 777,000 cubic feet of gas during flow back and clean up.

It added that while a flow rate could not be established for the Irwin River Coal Measures, it was still encouraging that gas was flared to surface not long after flow back commenced.

The joint venture will need to consider options to re-enter the well in the near future to restart flow back of the Irwin River to further evaluate this zone, where indications are that a much longer flow back period would be required to increase injected fluid recovery and established stabilised gas flow rates.

Further exploration including 3D seismic and more wells, along with the ongoing shale gas evaluation program, will also be required to establish the potential gas in place of the sequences within Arrowsmith-2.

Partners in EP 413, where Arrowsmith-2 is located, are operator Norwest with 27.945%, AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) with 44.252% and India's Bharat PetroResources (27.803%).

Proactive Investors is a market leader in the investment news space, providing ASX "Small and Mid-cap" company news, research reports, StockTube videos and One2One Investor Forums.