CALGARY, Alberta, May 13, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Delphi Energy Corp. (“Delphi” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide a production update on its first four-well Montney pad at West Bigstone.
Over the past two weeks, the Company has brought all four wells on production from its first multi-well pad in West Bigstone with a surface location of 13-34-59-24W5 (“13-34”). Delphi has a 65 percent working interest in the 13-34 pad. Facility upgrades, including provisions for gas lift of wells in the area, at the 1-3 West Bigstone battery were completed to handle the increased volumes from this and future pads and has allowed all four wells to be brought on-stream sooner than originally planned. A 14 kilometre dedicated pipeline constructed back to the 7-11 facility in East Bigstone now connects West Bigstone to the primary fluid and natural gas handling infrastructure in East Bigstone. The new pipeline allows for continued growth in West Bigstone without impacting performance of legacy wells and future development in East Bigstone.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dd7b15c2-0ae1-47aa-913f-67990a65f0b1
The four extended-reach wells were drilled in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019 with an average horizontal length in the Montney of 2,850 metres, efficiently developing two full sections at a time. Delphi successfully finished completion operations on the four-well pad at West Bigstone in the first quarter. The 13-34 pad offset the Company’s western-most wells drilled at West Bigstone at 16-10-60-24W5 and 15-10-60-24W5 (“16-10” and “15-10”).
The two eastern-most wells on the 13-34 pad were completed with a hybrid completion consisting of 50 fracs pumped using a ball-drop liner, and 30 individual fracs placed using plug and perf for a total of 80 discrete fracs. This is a similar design as was used at 16-10 and 15-10 where 65 fracs were placed. On the two western-most wells on the pad, extreme limited entry fracturing technique was used consisting of 40 stages with five clusters per stage for a total of 200 clusters or fracture initiations.
Over the first seven days with all four wells on production (IP7), the pad flowed at an average rate of 7.8 million cubic feet per day (“mmcf/d”) of raw natural gas and 2,650 barrels per day (“bbl/d”) of 42 degree API field condensate (390 barrels per million cubic feet (“bbl/mmcf”) of sales gas) based on field estimates. Total sales production rate for the pad over this time period was approximately 4,075 barrels of oil equivalent per day (“boe/d”) including current estimated plant natural gas liquid (“NGL”) yield of 42 bbl/mmcf of sales gas. Over this same period the pad produced an average of 3,260 bbl/d of load water from the fracturing operations. Recovery of load water during this initial start-up phase is always significant and diminishes over time. Peak natural gas production is often not reached for 30 to 60 days after start-up. The clean-up period for the 15-10 well occurred over a period of approximately 50 days, where the natural gas production more than doubled, peaking at approximately 4.5 mmcf/d before beginning its natural decline. Observing the 13-34 pad’s well performance over the first 90 to 180 days will be important to determining the impacts of the increased fracture intensity or number of fracture initiations compared to the 65 stages placed in the two offset wells. This will be important in optimizing overall capital efficiencies on the future multi-well pads.
The table below shows the results of the 15-10 and 16-10 wells, in addition to the other West Bigstone wells drilled in 2018. Field condensate production rates are correlating closely to the increased number of stages or fracture initiations, while natural gas production rates have been more variable, creating greater variation in total well production rates on a boe per day basis. The increased condensate recoveries at West Bigstone are having a much larger impact to returns on capital invested than the impact of lower and more variable natural gas production rates. The high operating netbacks being realized from these more condensate rich wells will continue to drive cash flow and reserve value growth.
Initial Production (IP) Rate Well Performance(1) | |||||||
Well | Number of Fracs |
IP30 | IP90 | IP180 | |||
Total Sales (boe/d) |
Field Condy to Gas Yield (bbl/mmcf) |
Total Sales (boe/d) |
Field Condy to Gas Yield (bbl/mmcf) |
Total Sales (boe/d) |
Field Condy to Gas Yield (bbl/mmcf) |
||
15-19 | 49 | 1,828 | 228 | 1,300 | 183 | 974 | 168 |
16-07(2) | 28 | 607 | 319 | 565 | 208 | 457 | 183 |
16-10 | 64 | 1,441 | 317 | 1,234 | 181 | 1,035 | 150 |
16-19(2) | 34 | 953 | 245 | 722 | 188 | 569 | 167 |
02/16-31 | 49 | 1,095 | 340 | 800 | 304 | 613 | 279 |
02/15-19 | 50 | 998 | 245 | 754 | 199 | 586 | 180 |
15-10 | 64 | 1,294 | 245 | 1,100 | 153 | ||
03/16-31 | 64 | 1,173 | 394 | 902 | 312 | ||
- Average production calculated on operating days, excludes non-producing days. Includes estimated NGL gas plant recoveries.
- Liner failure during completion. Not all planned stages were placed.
- All production numbers represent sales volumes.
Delphi has nine separate multi-well pads in various stages of approval, giving the Company significant and immediate running room for the second half of 2019 and beyond. A competitor, offsetting Delphi’s West Bigstone lands, has drilled two extended-reach horizontal wells in the lower Montney from its multi-well pad site. Validation of a second layer in the lower Montney will materially impact Delphi’s inventory of development locations in West Bigstone.
On behalf of the Board of Directors and all the employees of Delphi, we would like to thank our shareholders for their continued support. The Board of Directors also wishes to thank Mr. Andrew Osis and Mr. Ian Wild for their contributions to the Board. As they did not stand for re-election in 2019, we wish them all the best in their other endeavors.
About Delphi Energy Corp.
Delphi Energy Corp. is an industry-leading producer of liquids-rich natural gas. The Company has achieved top decile results through the development of our high quality Montney property, uniquely positioned in the Deep Basin of Bigstone, in northwest Alberta. Delphi continues to outperform key industry players by improving operational efficiencies and growing our dominant Bigstone land position in this world-class play. Delphi is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol DEE.