Angus Energy site at Brockham, Surrey, on 16 December 2018. Photo: Brockham Protectors
Angus Energy announced this morning that part of the target Kimmeridge oil interval at its well at Brockham in Surrey is producing water.
In a statement to shareholders, the company said it was putting together what it called a “further engineering program” to isolate the water zone. A workover rig is expected to return to the site, Angus said.
The company said “small quantities of oil” also returned to the surface and were confirmed as Kimmeridge oil. But it said:
“It has become apparent that a part of the perforated interval is producing water, which is inhibiting significant oil flow and therefore has not allowed for sustainable flow rates of oil to be reported at this time.”
The Angus share price fell on the news. At the time of writing, it was down 24% at 5.50p.
Share price in Angus Energy (red hashed line marks the previous close), 4 February 2019. Source: London South East
This is the second well tested by Angus in the Weald region to have been shown to produce water. A statement in October 2018 on the Balcombe site, now operated by Angus, said that the well test had encountered unexpected water. This was later explained as “unrecovered brine from previous activities at the site”.
This is also the company’s second test to have suffered from delays and equipment problems. Today’s statement said:
“During operations several key completion components failed for a variety of reasons beyond the Company’s control.
“This also led to delays over the December and early January periods.
“These long-lead items have not been re-installed but rather engineering work-arounds have been implemented, including a resort to lifting by injection of N2 [nitrogen].”
At Balcombe, the company reported that coiled tubing equipment failed after the second test, resulting in a delay. The company ran out of time allowed by its planning permission and no further tests were carried out.
Today’s statement said the tested interval at Brockham – from 960m-1155m – had been identified as the best for perforation, based on the Tmax measure. This is the temperature at which the maximum rate of hydrocarbon generation occurs in a kerogen sample.
The former chairman, Jonathan Tidswell-Pretorius, who remains operations director, tweeted this morning:
Today’s announcement is the first operational statement by Angus Energy’s interim managing director, George Lucan. He took over last week from Paul Vonk, who resigned after a board room power struggle at the company.
Lord Lucan said today:
“I am very pleased with the oil analysis clearly confirming Kimmeridge oil at Brockham. The water zone is obviously an unexpected hindrance but, with natural flow to surface and evidence of oil, we remain quietly optimistic of achieving commercial success at Brockham. Brockham in combination with Balcombe could be transformational for the Company and oil production in the Weald.”
Categories: Industry
DRILL OR DROP? 
Let us thank God for water, twice and with luck thrice over, and let us protect it, by jumping at the Gates of Hell, which shall not prevail against us, where the beasts and the false prophets reside, and where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the oily and brexity authorities, over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil. And let the ground open its mouth and swallow them up with all that belongs to them, that they go down, the Rat, the Mogg and their kin, alive into Sheol, then thou shalt know that these men have despised the Lord. Then behold an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain, seizing the oily dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and binding him for a thousand years, and throwing him into the pit, and shutting it and sealing it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years are ended.
That should do the trick.
Beautifully said kathrynmcwhirter.
The heart speaks the beauty of truth with grace and measure where mere mortal man can only prattle and dissemble over empty petty and baseless illusions of virtue.
Angus may be relieved to read the following:
Borehole irrigation (sometimes called annulus irrigation or trans-annulus irrigation) has been practiced for many hundreds of years. Over recent years it has been more widely used as a borehole management solution. It simply involves instilling warm water into the annulus and then allowing the water to be expelled, thus emptying the borehole. Studies have shown that regular irrigation can be an effective solution to prevent oleaginous incontinence and constipation. It can also reduce the amount of time spent on borehole management. It is a very effective method of clearing the borehole and maintaining borehole function, and the method improves the quality of life, dignity and self esteem of the entities concerned. Retro-irrigation should be performed regularly (usually daily or every other day) to achieve full productivity and prevent constipation. Retro-irrigation provides a reliable borehole management option, it is easy, quick, effective and hygienic to use, allowing operatives to live life to the full and not worry about their boreholes.
Yee haw!
And they ran Vonk the finance guy out of town, for what? Looking into the dodgy share dealings of Tidswell Pretorious, the guy responsible for this mess.
The smart money is in nitrogen 😆