Final testing yet to begin at GSPCآ’s well in KG basin
Gujarat Petroleum will begin testing its third well at eastern offshore shallow water block KG-OSN-2001/3 sometime this month.
Final target depth of 5061 metres was reached on 13th May. Why has testing not yet begun Explains a source: Several zones have to be tested and preparations are taking time.
A DGH source confirms that GSPC is on the right track. GSPC is right.
It takes two weeks to begin testing once target depth is reached. During these two weeks GSPC will cement the well, case it and perforate it at the depths where testing has to be carried out.
Testing will begin from the lowest zone upwards and the number of days taken will depend on the number of zones to be tested. At 5061 metres this is one of the deepest wells in the eastern offshore.
Running every string and pulling it out will take at least two days. Running a log will take three days.
GSPC says it also has to contend with temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit and high pressures (not yet tested) in the well. Once testing begins it is expected to continue for a month.
Testing is likely to end by the middle of July. We are told that if ONGC had drilled a similarly complex well, it would have taken them at least three or four months to test it.
In comparison, we are very fast. After testing is completed, GSPC will move rig Perro Negro-3 to the fourth drilling location.
We have got three or four locations ready. Despite industry scepticism, GSPC is optimistic that the third well will yield good quantities of gas.
The first two wells were dry. Till date, GSPC has spent about Rs130cr ($29m) on the third well.
The first well cost Rs90cr ($20m) and the second well cost Rs60cr ($14m).