Empyrean Energy (EME:AIM), the oil and gas development company with interests in China, Indonesia and the United States, is pleased to announce that it has been informed by Sacgasco Limited (ASX:SGC) (“Sacgasco”), the operator of the Dempsey 1-15 well in the Sacramento Basin, onshore California, that the Dempsey 1-15 well is currently drilling ahead in 8 1/2″ vertical hole.
Since the last update mud logs have indicated new zones of significant gas shows in improved reservoirs. These reservoirs are interpreted to be equivalent to sandstones seen in outcrop in the coastal ranges to the west, but were not considered to be likely to be present in the Dempsey well.
The significance of these shows will become more apparent when the next wireline logs are run to more fully evaluate the intersected gas shows and reservoirs. This is planned after reaching the proposed total drilling depth of approximately 3,200 metres.
The Dempsey 1-15 well is currently drilling ahead below 2,300 m (~7,670 feet) to the highly under-explored deeper targeted reservoirs in the approximately 900 m (~2,900 feet) of remaining section to be drilled.
Dempsey is drilling the largest known, yet undrilled, mapped structural closure in the northeastern part of the prolific Sacramento Gas Basin and is interpreted to be optimally located to trap gas migrating out of gas generating areas located to the west and south.
Empyrean CEO Tom Kelly commented,
“The improved quality of sands appearing in these latest unexpected zones of significant gas shows is encouraging. Drilling is in sight and we will keep our shareholders appraised of further significant developments.”
Dempsey Prospect and Dempsey 1-15 Well
Dempsey is a large structure mapped with 3D seismic and interpreted by Sacgasco to have the potential to hold a prospective resource of over 1 Tcf of gas in up to seven stacked target reservoirs. Individual, unrisked Deterministic Prospective Resources for the primary targets range from 116 Bcf to 352 Bcf of recoverable gas. Should all the stacked reservoirs be full of gas, the cumulative unrisked recoverable Prospective Resources within the Dempsey prospect could exceed 1 Tcf.
The primary targets are interpreted in a series of Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs that exhibit structurally consistent amplitude anomalies similar to those that are observed on seismic data elsewhere in the basin where conventional sandstone reservoirs have trapped natural gas in mapped structural closures, for example the Tulainyo / James and Alvares wells.
Sacgasco expects to intersect gas shows in a number of zones in the Dempsey 1-15 well and these will be assessed based on the information available, but quantitative results will need to await conventional logging after drilling each section of the well and may need flow testing to be definitive.
The Dempsey 1-15 well is planned to be drilled in three discrete sections to depths of approximately 600m, 2,000m and 3,200m associated with decreasing planned casing sizes. The well has been designed conservatively to provide flexibility to respond to well bore conditions and progressive results.
Empyrean has also been informed that since the Dempsey 1-15 well will be exploring for a new gas pool, Sacgasco has requested that the regulator keep the records confidential for two years as allowed by Section 3234 of the Public Resources Code of California. The regulator has approved the “Confidential Status” for Dempsey 1-15 in order to protect longer-term shareholder value.
Aside from compelling technical merit, the Dempsey 1-15 well location sits next to existing gas metering and surface infrastructure that is owned by the joint venture. This will allow for any gas discovery to be tested and connected into the local pipeline at relatively low cost and in an accelerated timeframe.
This announcement has been reviewed by Empyrean’s Technical Director, Mr Frank Brophy BSc (Hons), who has over 40 years experience as a petroleum geologist.
