Quantum Helium (QHE ) is continuing its extended production test at the Sagebrush-1 well in Colorado.
The initial acid injection programme has been successfully completed on the upper zone of the Leadville helium-bearing formation at approximately 7,250 feet.
During the treatment, the formation accepted fluids at increased injection rates and pressures relative to earlier operations, providing encouraging indications regarding communication with the reservoir.
The pre-stimulation programme was designed to improve near-wellbore reservoir connectivity and reduce historical formation damage.
Initial engineering analysis indicates the treatment successfully extended beyond the immediate wellbore area and established communication with the targeted reservoir interval, providing valuable insight into reservoir characteristics, response to acidization and the effectiveness of pre-stimulation techniques within the Leadville Formation.
Accordingly, the company will initiate a planned fracture stimulation, designed to enhance reservoir connectivity.
At this point, preliminary analysis confirms that the raw gas produced has close similarities to the gas analysis conducted previously, in 1994, which indicated helium content at 2.76%.
Pressure build-up monitoring undertaken following the initial pre-stimulation programme has continued to provide valuable insight into reservoir characteristics and behaviour.
The planned programme is designed to establish communication with undamaged reservoir beyond the immediate wellbore area and provide a more representative assessment of the Leadville Formation's production potential.
"The extended production test continues to generate valuable technical information and has significantly improved our understanding of the Leadville reservoir,” said Howard McLaughlin, chief executive of Quantum Helium.
“The data collected to date supports a progression to a larger fracture stimulation programme designed to improve communication with the broader Leadville reservoir and provide a more meaningful assessment of the formation's production potential. Importantly, the programme has generated exactly the type of reservoir data we set out to obtain. Every stage of testing has improved our understanding of the Leadville Formation and helped define the most effective path forward. The information gathered so far is helping us optimise the programme as we work towards evaluating the commercial potential of the Leadville Formation.”
He added: “The planned fracture stimulation work is designed to enhance connectivity with the formation and should provide a much more meaningful assessment of reservoir performance. We are encouraged by the results obtained so far and believe the programme is advancing into a particularly important phase. Preliminary gas analysis has also been encouraging, with the raw gas encountered during the current programme showing close similarities to the gas analysis obtained from Sagebrush-1 in 1994, which previously indicated helium content of 2.76%. Whilst further analysis remains ongoing, this represents another encouraging outcome from the programme to date."
View from Vox
So far, so good. The extended production test has successfully generated valuable reservoir and pressure data, and this is helping to refine the company's understanding of the Leadville Formation and to guide future development planning. The next phase of fracture stimulation and testing represents an important step towards evaluating the commercial potential of the reservoir. It’s still all to play for.