production testing

Not too sure if all the HC posters are oilers, but I certainly am not, so I went hunting today to find out what “conduct a production test” means.

Looks like once the well has been drilled to depth, they remove the drilling apparatus from the hole and perform several tests, the first of which is the “wire line logs”, then “drill stem tests”, and possibly taking “Core samples” of the rock to look for characteristics of reservoir rock.

The completed wire line logs would have measured various geophysical properties of the subsurface rock formations, particularly porosity, permeability, and fluid content. Porosity is the proportion of fluid-filled space found within the rock, and this contains the oil and gas. Permeability is the ability of fluids to flow through the rock. The higher the porosity, the higher the possible oil and gas content of a rock reservoir. The higher the permeability, the easier for the oil and gas to flow toward the wellbore. The logs would have also interpreted what kinds of fluids were in the pores — oil, gas, brine.

A drill stem test (DST) which is probably what we are doing over the next two weeks, is a procedure for testing the surrounding geological formation through the drill pipe. During normal drilling, fluid is pumped through the drill stem and out the drill bit. Instead, in a drill stem test, fluid from the formation is recovered through the drill stem, while several measurements of pressure are being made.

The basic drill stem test tool consists of a packer or packers, valves or ports that may be opened and closed from the surface, and two or more pressure-recording devices. A packer is an expanding plug (weight is applied to the tool to expand the packer) which can be used to seal off sections of the open well, to isolate them for testing. The test tool is lowered on the drill pipe to the zone to be tested. Opening the tool ports allows the formation pressure to be tested. Formation fluid is recovered in the drill pipe through temporary relief of backpressure imposed on the formation. Hydrostatic, flowing and shut-in pressures are recorded versus time. This process enables workers to determine whether the well can be produced. There are dangers of blow outs in this procedure.

So that is what MS and co will be up to for the next couple of weeks, hopefully proving that the fractures contain oil and are co-joined to supply a commercial field.

Perhaps you all know this stuff, but for those who don't...!!
I am fairly upbeat about our chances again, especially given the volume of shares traded over the last few days.