RE: Unconventional gas - an additional opportunity?9 Aug 2023 00:27
@BRV & Jimmy - thanks for the additional reference re. biogenic gas, I knew I had seen it somewhere!
@Paname - It may be worth expanding upon what has already been mentioned. Biogenic gas is formed by bacteria chewing on the organic material within sediments and producing in-situ gas. This happens only at temperatures below 75°C, so tends to be in shallow deposits. Thermogenic gas is caused by oil being cooked - this happens deep underground, where high pressures and temperatures of 150 - 225°C lead to the necessary chemical reaction. You can tell which is which from a gas sample by testing the proportions of carbon isotopes 12 & 13.
There are implications for PRD. We know the gas in the main MOU-Fan reservoirs is thermogenic, and has therefore migrated from source rocks deep underground and become concentrated in structural traps. This is conventional gas, and despite what some on here, whose knowledge seems to be based on Google, are trying to claim, nothing out of the ordinary will be required to extract the gas. The idea that this person thinks they know more than Paul & Lonny is laughable.
In addition to the conventional thermogenic gas that makes up the declared Contingent Resource, some biogenic gas has been identified, mostly at relatively lower concentrations in shallow strata. This will also be tested in the coming weeks - it is not yet known if it would be economic, but clearly there is a very large volume of rock which is likely to be gas containing. A biogenic gas deposit would typically be found in very fine-grained sediments, since that is where you would also find an original high organic content. Such deposits often make for poor reservoirs (low porosity & permeability), so would need 'unconventional' methods to extract the gas - this might include horizontal development and/or fracking.
Clearly PRD are assessing this potential just to prove up additional volume in order to interest a potential purchaser. They have neither the time, money, nor expertise to do it themselves. If found to be economic, it would be a separate operation, and thus not affect the field development plan for the conventionally sourced CNG operations.
Someone here appears to be deliberately taking the mention of unconventional resource totally out of context, with the intention of trying to get us to worry that all of the Guercif gas could be unconventional, so would be very expensive to extract. If you take a look at the table on p.19 of the May presentation, it is clearly referring to a separate opportunity which is distinct from and additional to all the others. This is like reading the Book of Genesis, seeing that Cain murdered his brother Abel, and then claiming that all the old geezers mentioned must also have fratricidal tendencies.
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