Touchstone Exploration, an independent company based in Calgary, announced highly promising natural gas results from tests conducted at two newly completed exploration wells on its Ortoire onshore block in Trinidad & Tobago.
Following these results, the company intends to connect the wells to its existing natural gas processing facility as quickly as possible. One of the wells also tested an oil accumulation that could open new opportunities in deeper formations at the site.
Paul Baay, Touchstone’s chief executive, remarked that the test results from the Cascadura-2ST1 well were highly promising and were similar to those from the previous well, Cascadura-1ST1. He expressed the company’s eagerness to connect the well to the pipeline and begin testing it at their facility soon.
Touchstone reported that wellhead pressure at Cascadura-2ST1 increased quickly after perforation, reaching 3600 psi in 18 hours, suggesting a significant gaseous column. The well remains shut in while awaiting connection to a new flowline.
The second well, Cascadura-3ST1, flowed dry natural gas at a pressure of 2400 psi for one hour after being perforated, before it was shut in for safety reasons. The absence of testing equipment on site meant the company could not estimate the volume of gas produced. The current shut-in pressure for this well is 2,665 psi.
The company noted that future tests would occur once the well is integrated into the gas gathering system at the Cascadura facility. They also confirmed hydrocarbons were present on the east side of Fault C, which suggests opportunities for further development in the region.
Touchstone has identified a potential oil opportunity in the Herrera formation, starting about 359 feet below the tested gas interval in Cascadura-3ST1. A separate test showed a flow of heavy oil at a rate of 300 to 400 barrels per day without any formation water for 40 hours. However, a sudden change in flow pressures led to the production of oil, formation water, mud, and sand, which required the lower test interval to be plugged.
These initial findings indicate that the Cascadura structure might host multiple hydrocarbon accumulations that extend beyond previously identified boundaries, according to Baay.
Touchstone Exploration Inc (LON:TXP) is a Canadian-based, international upstream oil and gas company currently active in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Primera Oil and Gas is the Trinidadian subsidiary of Touchstone.
