- Australia’s Kinetiko Energy has successfully flowed gas from three Korhaan Project wells, with significant gas flow rates achieved from Korhaan well 3.
- The Korhaan well project is located within the Ermelo Coalfield in Mpumalanga, South Africa.
- Gas exploration has focused on coal sandstones, coal and other carbonaceous structures at depths of 130m to 450m.
“With recent funding secured from South African and Australian investors, we are poised to accelerate our sizable exploration opportunities while commencing pilot gas production. The Company is focused over the next three months on achieving major milestones by securing our first domestic gas customers and booking maiden gas reserves certification,” said Kinetiko Executive Chairman, Adam Sierakowski.
Afro Energy, an arm of Kinetiko Energy and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), a development finance institution based in South Africa, recently signed a joint development agreement (JDA) to co-invest in the production and exploration of gas at approximately 20 wells in Amersfoort, in Mpumalanga, a province in South Africa.
Investment and development will be carried out under the conditions of the JDA with the help of a special purpose vehicle, the Afro Gas Development SA (AGDSA). The IDC will make an investment of R70 million, or over 45%, in the AGDSA project, whereas Afro Energy will contribute R85 million, or around 55%, to explore and begin production of approximately 500 million standard cubic feet of gas per year in South Africa.
The AGDSA initiative is being developed in stages, the first of which facilitates the construction of 10 wells and the construction of a gas terminal that will include a processing and treatment facility, a pipeline gathering system, and a metering station. All the Korhaan Project holes were percussion drilled to intersect carbonaceous sandstone and coal geology at depths that ranged from 130m to 450m. The wells are conventional and have unsophisticated completions as they are open holes that test the entire sub-Karoo section and have successfully flowed low-pressure gas.
Korhaan 3 was tested during May 2022 and had a successful series of multiple flow and shut-in periods. Encouragingly, each period showed an increase in both flow rate and build-up pressure, proving its placement within a large compartment with rapid recharge functionality. The last flow period produced very high-quality gas (~98% methane, 2% nitrogen and zero CO2) at a sustained rate of over 92 Nm³/hour (83 mscfpd) gas flow with a shut-in pressure build-up of over 12 bar.
Stage two will involve kickstarting the gas production from the 10 wells, including the drilling of another 10 wells and the expansion of the terminal systems that were planned for completion in phase I of the project.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
