6th Oct 2016 06:45
LONDON (Alliance News) - President Energy PLC on Wednesday said it has been forced to temporarily suspend one of its wells on the Puesto Guardian concession in Argentina after a piece of equipment broke off and fell into the hole.
Chairman Peter Levine said there was "inevitable disappointment and frustration" following the issue and admitted that the development well, if brought into production, would be an "excellent producer". He said, however, that it was "not a time for a kneejerk reaction".
The DP1002S/T well on the Puntitas field has suffered the issue after the company was running casing in the drilled well and a "twist-off of a 1,000 metre section" was lost downhole. President said it was "not practical" to recover the section at the time and said sourcing a workover rig to fish out the casing is being "considered".
The rig that was being used to drill the well initially has been moved to another company neighbouring President's project, Petro AP, which will use the rig to drill its own Pizzaro well.
The lost casing follows on from other problems with the rig in question concerning a fractured drill pipe and then two failed cement plugs.
"Whilst President continued to drill through all these difficulties and intercepted the target formation, the attempt at casing this well has proved an issue too far at this present time," said the company.
"Investigations will now commence with all contractors to identify the failings in operations as it is extremely unusual to encounter such a combination of issues in the course of a single well," President added.
President said it had "leading names" working on the well, including drilling contractors Helmerich & Payne, mud contractor Schlumberger, workforce supplier Weatherford and, most notably, Baker Hughes, which was responsible for the directional drilling and casing.
"All of the issues were unforeseen even after taking into account the detailed risk analysis and peer review undertaken before drilling commenced," said President.
"Nevertheless, as the decision has been taken to temporarily suspend further attempts at completing this well at this time, President is reviewing further action on this well and on the drilling programme. As well as the fishing operations being considered, the well remains available for a further side track to re-intersect the producing formation," the company added.
President said the issue does not impact the company's reserves or the prospectivity of the Puntitas field, adding that production remains stable.
The company said production further north, in Louisiana in the US, has reached 200 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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