Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
- Prominence Energy (PRM) sets and cements casing of the Bowsprit-1 well southeast of New Orleans in the US
- The vertical well is being drilled to test six prospective sands the company hopes will contain a commercial volume of recoverable oil
- Drilling is aiming to reach a total depth of 8600 feet which PRM says should take four days
- Shares have been trading in the grey at 1.7 cents at 12:26 pm AEDT
Prominence Energy (PRM) has set and cemented casing of the Bowsprit-1 well southeast of New Orleans in the U.S.
Bowsprit is a former producing field which has been assessed to contain an undeveloped conventional Miocene aged oil sand at a depth of 7400 feet (2255 metres), which is above a deeper gas field developed in the 1960s by Shell.
The 30 foot (nine metre) thick oil sand flowed during that time from four wells and produced approximately 75,000 barrels of oil. However it’s believed full field development was not practical with the well technology of the time.
Now, PRM is drilling a vertical well to the main Middle-Miocene Sandstone target at 7,380 feet, and will test six prospective sands the company hopes will contain a commercial volume of recoverable oil.
Drilling is aiming to reach a total depth of 8,600 feet, testing the sands from 6,500 feet.
Today, the company said the well was 3260 feet (994 metres) deep and reaching the total depth should take four days.
Managing Director Alex Parks said the next few days of drilling would be “very exciting”.
“We have six formations to evaluate and any of them could contain a commercial volume of recoverable oil. Success in this well would be transformational for PRM,” Mr Parks said.
Shares were trading in the grey at 1.7 cents at 12:26 pm AEDT.
