Highlights

• Reabold Resources’ (LON:RBD) partner Rathlin Energy interacted with the West Newton Community Liaison Group (CLG) regarding the development of the West Newton project.
• Rathlin's ongoing plans are based on the analysis and interpretation by CoreLab, Applied Petroleum Technology (“APT”) and RPS (engineering firm).
• As per tests, oil-based drilling fluid is more appropriate for the Kirkham Abbey reservoir.

UK-based upstream oil and gas investment firm Reabold Resources (LON:RBD) recently updated the market about a meeting between Rathlin Energy (UK) Limited ("Rathlin") and West Newton Community Liaison Group (CLG). The meeting took place at West Newton B ("WNB") site, where CLG members were given an update on Rathlin's work.

Reabold holds a 59% stake in Rathlin, the operator of PEDL183 and the West Newton Field, and 16.665% direct interest in the PEDL183 project, taking its total economic interest to ~56%.

As per the company update on 23 September 2022, the West Newton project, which could start as early as 2026, can meet the daily gas demands of over 380,000 homes in the UK for several years.

For more on the West Newton project, click here.

Rathlin interacted with CLG and reported the following three major updates on the West Newton project.

1. Engineering update:

The drilling data like core samples, oil and gas samples, wireline log and well test data was analysed and interpreted by a third-party lab (CoreLab, Applied Petroleum Technology (“APT”)) and an engineering firm (RPS).

The lab analysis has determined that the formation is highly sensitive to aqueous fluids. The damage near the wellbore in the Kirkham Abbey reservoir occurred due to the previous drilling of the West Newton wells with water-based mud.

However, oil-based drilling mud/fluid can resolve this problem as it minimises the damage to the reservoir. Oil-based drilling fluids are included in the Standard Rules permit, which has been applied for at WNB. Further, the current modification to the WNA permit has been adapted to include oil-based muds along the same lines as in the standard rules permit.  Determination of these permits is pending.

The use of oil-based drilling fluid will have an added advantage in the Kirkham Abbey reservoir’s case as its use in conjunction with increased length of reservoir section penetration (1500 meters) can enhance the well's productive capability, as seen by RPS’s analysis.

2. Work programme: 

Rathlin and its partners' technical teams are working to zero in on the optimum orientation for a horizontal well to execute the blueprints of the engineering update. Items having a long lead time have already been ordered, and availability for the drill rig has also been determined.

3. Field development

The insights of engineering update assisted the field development strategy as the reservoir majorly comprises of gas (methane 90% + ethane 5%) with associated light oil (condensate). This high gas concentration makes natural gas delivery directly to the National Grid via pipeline viable, thus helping the residents witness less truck traffic.