Purcell launches winter drilling

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

The lower Northwest Territories along with northern British Columbia and Alberta will again figure prominently in this winter’s drilling by Calgary-based Purcell Energy, which has set a capital budget for the year of C$36 million.

It has a 24 percent interest in two wells at Fort Liard in the Northwest Territories — 3K-29 which is currently being drilled directionally from the K-29 facilities site and 2M-25 — that are expected to produce a combined 50 million cubic feet a day of raw gas once they are on stream by the third quarter.

After almost four years of production, aggregate gross production from Fort Liard’s initial four wells is about 114 billion cubic feet, or 80 billion cubic feet of sales gas. At Tenaka in northeastern British Columbia, where Purcell holds interests varying from 28 percent to 90 percent in 52,000 gross acres of gas-prone lands, the first exploratory well was recently spudded. It should reach total depth of about 7,800 feet in early March. A second exploratory well is now under way.

The wells are testing two Slave Point gas prospects of those identified by a three-dimensional seismic program last year. A second 3-D survey will be completed this winter. The company said a successful drilling program could result in a multi-year exploration and development effort.