Expected costs & cased hole operations bluejay111 said...
$20/k a day sitting, i would think it would cost a hell of alot more when they drill
I didn't say I thought it was sitting. In the Jan 17 release SPE announced...
that it (and the operator DLMC) have received approval from the CNLOPB to continue cased-hole operations at its Shoal Point 3K-39 location; this stage of operations is expected to last 7-10 days and will prepare the cased borehole for sidetracking (3K-39z) and deepening of the well.
I think they've reopened the hole that they plugged last fall and have already completed a cased hole test at the 1745m depth because that makes sense given their plan as stated last year in the July 7, 2011 release...
The operation is proceeding to run casing to 1725 meters, and is planning, subject to CNLOPB approval, to run a cased hole test over the open lower carbonate-rich section of the well to the total depth of 1745 metres, from which promising hydrocarbon indications were encountered during drilling and logging operations.
The only opportunity to do a cased hole test to assess the formation at the present depth is right now before they drill deeper and before they they perforate the casing at the higher zones. Whether we'll hear about the cased hole results is another story. I've always suggested pushing management for the status of this test. Although not specifically mentioned I believe that before they start the sidetrack they will complete the casing between 1725m and 1745m. Once they've cased a section they will have no opportunity to do a flow test at the newly cased level unless they perforate that very same casing. If they then wish to test another zone they will have to reline the section they just performated to isolate the zone of interest. The only reasonable time to do a flow test at a given depth is when they first reach that level, before they case it and before they drill deeper.
They received approval to continue cased ole operations sometime between Jan 9 - 17 (dates of CNLOPB weekly well status reports). The work I've describved could or should be going on now, even before they receive permits for the sidetrack.
As for the additional costs... when they start to drill they will have a crew to pay but they were prepared for this since 3K-39 mirrors 2K-39 so they already know what to expect. That is why there were no bad reports associated with 3K-39 last year. There were no unknowns this time around.