RE: Moving forward10 Jun 2026 12:51
Hi Shar1, I don't think realistically that it could have been done (much) earlier.
We were re-entering a circa 30 year old well with no insight as to the wellbore integrity, with main risks being corrosion/well casing collapse.
We then needed to clean up the well with acidization by injecting the well with acid, basically to clean the near wellbore area by dissolving blockages to improve the flows. At this point we need to assess the reaction of the reservoir over a number of weeks to form a clearer picture of the reservoir characteristics (flows/pressure/limits etc). This all took time and it was acknowledged in the RNS that they had some initial problems requiring additional operational work.
All the while, we would be testing the helium % over this extended period which we now know is 'similar to the analysis' of 30 odd years ago.
So far, so good. At this point, we have gas flows (+/- commercial) and known helium % (commercial). We need the flows and % to be commercial to progress. My feeling is that the flows are there/thereabouts commercial as it stands hence 'the results obtained to date support progression to the next phase of reservoir fracture stimulation'.
Once the fracking is done and reservoir tested/evaluated further I expect it to be confirmed as commercial. As I have previously said, this is a much better proposition now than it was 8 weeks ago as it has been substantially de-risked.
I see Bigw77 has given a source for the 95% comment - the US are the experts at fracking, with the US shale boom driven by it.