Brad was very proud and passionate about the wet gas...

Brad was very proud and passionate about the wet gas commerciality. Have a look at his first interview after he left Dls.

I don't "cherries picked" at Dls but I am saying about unconventional industry as a whole.

A simple word could lead to different meanings depended on how people interpret it.
A perfect explanation is supported by a fact or facts.
A proven factor to find out about the truth of unconventional that should Bpt and Dls merge together.

If not, I would say Cooper-Eromanga is a fail engine.

Strike Energy could commercialise its conventional sources but I don't believe It's going to get the sources out from unconventional play.

Central petroleum has been just commercialized its conventional sources this year. Ctp is trying to prove its 2P reserves from unconventional play. Ctp is another STO's war chest.

Oil prices do suffer US unconventional and just simply kill most of Australian unconventional players. The number of DOOMERS are increasing.

All other commodities are becoming priceless. They've been devalued due to disinflation around world economies.

Only the best assets are having higher chance of recoveries.

There's life for US shale drillers. Most of the sources are condensates/light crudes and gas.
Gas: more gas power plants being built to meet carbon emission targets coupled with Hillary Clinton's green evolution.
Condensates: Job creation stories...

Can Australian LNG compete with Turkmenistan, Iran, Russia and US.
I doubt it based on recent trip of WA's premier to India. Collins Barnett couldn't pursue a gas contract with India hence India signed a contract with Iran.
China is slowing and India is only a key driver at the moment because Modi wanted eveything is MADED IN INDIA.

Japanese was just rejected a "test run" delivery from Chevron because the spot price is looking cheaper at the moment.

Eastern gas is cheaper than WA.
Can Eastern gas market keep on with the supply-demand issues.
Are there enough conventional volumes from C-E basins after CSG ramps up.
Is there a renew source from NT after a NEGI pipeline is built.

There were some reports mentioned about the supply balances. Most of them don't take Unconventional's 2P reserves into accounts because there're rarely some pilot production online excepted for a few from STO wells.

I like the supply-demand issues because it's the key to prop up gas prices.

Utility companies are safe because they will run all of their gas fired power plant to optimum capacities and store them while the ramps up in 3 Qld plants.
They will sell at spot prices when gas prices are higher.
Pipelines are safe

Victoria's Bass Strait seems to be the main sources to solve the issues. Bhp, Org and Awe to name a few.

Unconventional is NOT EXCITED in my view.
I accepted my failure but I hate to receive a ROCK SAMPLE for a return.

A ripe hunting ground: Brad Lingo on embracing opportunities in the Cooper
MAY 12, 2015

Share/Bookmark
Drillsearch is one of the most prolific oil and gas explorers in the Cooper Basin, with a steady focus on the exploration and production of conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources. We met with Brad Lingo to discuss the company’s most recent drilling results, and the path Drillsearch is on to develop and bring these resources to market.




The Weatherford 862 rid drilling



Since Managing Director Brad Lingo took the helm of Drillsearch in 2009, the company has narrowed its focus exclusively to the Cooper Basin – a move that has worked in the company’s favour.

From an exploration permit perspective, Drillsearch owns the second largest number of permits in the Cooper Basin. Within their exploration tenements, Drillsearch has shale gas potential, tight gas potential and deep coal seam gas (CSG) potential, which is distinctly different to the CSG development underway in South East Queensland.

For Drillsearch, the beginning of the journey into unconventional resources really started in 2009.

“We recognised the identity of the plays in the Cooper, but we also realised that following in the footsteps of other companies who have been successful in unconventional discoveries was a sensible path to follow.

“And so we very much focused on looking for unconventional resources that we could identify associated with our conventional discoveries – the wells we’d already drilled and the wells we were drilling on a regular basis.

“By doing this we were effectively getting two bites of the cherry – every well that we drilled was assessed for both conventional and unconventional potential, and that remains fundamental to our approach.”

It’s an approach that has resulted in a number of recent successes for the company. Since the start of FY2015, the company has made seven wet gas discoveries in its joint ventures with Santos and Beach Energy. Four of the recent discoveries have all shown potential for unconventional pay: Nulla North-1, Kyanite-1 and Spinel-1 with Santos; and Maupertuis-1 with Beach.

“Through this drilling program, we’re demonstrating that the basin has hardly been touched in terms of its conventional opportunity, and in addition, in the play area that we’re largely focused on – the Patchawarra Trough – most wells are finding some form of unconventional pay associated with them as well,
just by nature of the system.”

Current exploration program

During the company’s half year results briefing in February, Mr Lingo noted that the development of unconventional resources is seen as a long-term prospect for the company, but during our interview he noted that the significant recent unconventional results put the company at an “interesting juncture”.

“We’ve had a number of existing discoveries in the south-western Patchawarra Trough; but we also have a forward work program within the permit PEL570 in the northern Cooper, which is part of what I call the central Patchawarra Trough.

“Santos has farmed in to that area, and their objective is very much focused on the unconventional. They were very clear about that when they announced their farm in to the area with New Standard and Magnum Hunter, which again, for these two companies, was all about the unconventional.

“Early in the coming financial year we believe that we’ll be drilling a dedicated, unconventional exploration well in that PEL570 area.

“We’ll also be drilling somewhere between two and five conventional targeted exploration wells in the PEL101 area, which is surrounded by PEL570. We’ve already had three conventional gas discoveries in the area, and when we have the results from the additional wells we plan to drill, we’ll be able to compare them to the results we see from the dedicated unconventional well in PEL570 and compare and contrast the results.

“So in a very short period of time, we can have somewhere between three and four well penetrations in a very concentrated area. We always realised that there was an unconventional resource potential in that area – and now we are embarking on the process of proving this up.”

Mr Lingo says the unconventional plays in the wells to be drilled start emerging at depths greater than 2,700m down to 3,800m.

Where to now

Clearly, the technology to drill down to unconventional targets is here. According to Mr Lingo, the next steps will be ensuring the company has all the right technology at its disposal in terms of fraccing and well completion, leading to produce-ability.

Mr Lingo also believes that just like in the US, the next stage in the development of Australia’s unconventional oil and gas industry will involve a lot of trial and error, “experimenting with a little bit of this, a little bit of that to get the right mix for different plays”.

“But that’s not something to be afraid of,” said Mr Lingo. “It’s something to embrace. Explorers need to go into their plays with a very clear mindset on the resource, and establish how much money they will put at risk on the path to produce-ability.”

For Drillsearch, mitigating the risk involved with unconventional exploration comes by using conventional wells to simultaneously evaluate the potential for an unconventional resource.

“As we evaluate it for its unconventional potential, then that builds up a catalogue of essentially prospective air holes for us to come back to test, and try various methods of testing it until we actually crack the code,” he said.




Drilling at Drillsearch’s Yarowinnie South-1 well site





“Our view is that the northern Cooper wet gas area, from an unconventional perspective, has very good rock quality by international standards. Our focus now is on establishing the right level of completion quality – looking at how to drill wells, how to fracture stimulate those wells and how to complete those wells – to ultimately demonstrate produce-ability and profitability.”

Brad Lingo, Drillsearch Managing Director




Brad Lingo, Drillsearch Managing Director



Using conventional to target unconventional

“Our business model has always been targeting conventional first – using conventional drilling and conventional production to effectively underwrite the exploration, appraisal and delineation of the unconventional resource,” said Mr Lingo.

“If we can drill and develop and start producing a conventional gas field, but at the same time, use it as a platform to start testing and appraising the unconventional resource, the idea is to eventually introduce that unconventional gas into the same gas sale contract.”

The four P’s

Just like the four P’s of marketing, Brad Lingo has his four P’s of unconventional oil and gas: Presence, Prevalence, Produce-ability and Profitability.

Presence – where is the resource located?

Prevalence – how extensive is it in terms of area and volume?

Produce-ability – what do you have to do to produce it?

Profitability – can this resource be produced on a commercial basis?

“When it comes to those four P’s, in Australia, it is quite early days.

“What is clear is that most hydrocarbon basins in Australia are significantly under-explored and under-exploited,” said Mr Lingo.

“The petroleum provinces that have the advantage around the exploration, appraisal and delineation and ultimately the development of unconventional resources are the ones that have had the most historical activity.

“Clearly, that’s onshore at the Cooper Basin. The biggest challenge that we have in progressing through that exploration, appraisal and delineation process is that we’re so spoiled for choice in terms of the resources we should be targeting.”

The rocks are the rocks

“With our joint venture partner Santos, we look at two essential ingredients to demonstrate the quality of an unconventional play,” said Mr Lingo. “The first is rock quality, and the second is completion quality. When it comes to rock quality – the rocks are the rocks, and they either have high carbon resources associated with them or they don’t.

“Our view is that the northern Cooper wet gas area, from an unconventional perspective, has very good rock quality by international standards. Our focus now is on establishing the right level of completion quality – looking at how to drill wells, how to fracture stimulate those wells and how to complete those wells – to ultimately demonstrate produce-ability and profitability.”

The appeal of the Cooper

While the US and Australia are very different exploration environments, with differing restrictions on locations that can be drilled (in the US, drilling for unconventional wells has even been allowed on land that forms a part of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas), Australia, and indeed the Cooper Basin, does have one huge advantage that the US does not – it is very scarcely populated.

“The advantage we have that they didn’t have in the US was they identified an unconventional resource that, in many respects, was adjacent to and underlying one of the largest metropolitan areas in North America,” said Mr Lingo. “Where we’re operating, out in the Cooper Basin, our drilling activities will disturb very few people.

“But that doesn’t mean we’ll compromise, in any respect, our operational performance or our health, safety and environmental considerations. We just don’t, and we won’t. However the opportunity for conflict and misunderstanding is greatly reduced operating in a remote location like the Cooper.

“It’s remote, but because of all the conventional gas that’s been discovered, it’s very well situated to be able to explore, appraise, grade and delineate – and ultimately exploit the unconventional resource potential.”

With the Cooper Basin being so well set up in terms of infrastructure for developing conventional wells, it’s also well placed to bring unconventional resources to market when they do come online.

For example, the Kyanite well sits within one kilometre of a major gas gathering pipeline operated by Santos within the Cooper Basin – a gas pipeline that Drillsearch has already been supplying conventional gas into for the last few years.

The Cooper and beyond

Mr Lingo says the company is very aware of the challenges explorers in New South Wales and Victoria are currently facing, which reinforces the company’s decision to focus exclusively on the remote Cooper Basin.

“Whenever you operate near significant populations, people are going to have a difference of opinion about what should be done, what can be done and who has a right to do things on the land. In the Cooper Basin it is remote, it is scarcely inhabited; we maybe overestimate the population. Most of the people that are out there in the Cooper Basin are out there because they’re associated with oil and gas activities.”

Given the success the company has enjoyed of late, Drillsearch is approached by companies regarding potential new opportunities on a weekly basis.

“Everybody knows that we’re focused onshore, so typically we’re approached to farm-in to other onshore exploration projects,” said Mr Lingo. “They’ve ranged across various parts of Australia, they’re broadly spread. To date, we’ve yet to come across an opportunity that’s had the overwhelming attractiveness our existing developments in the Cooper offer – hence so far, we have been resistant to these other opportunities.”

Patience is a virtue

When asked what message he has for companies operating in the unconventional space, Mr Lingo says it comes down to two words: patience and persistence.

“There are a few of things that Drillsearch is known for,” says Mr Lingo. “Things like maintaining focus; measuring twice, cutting once; and believing that anything that’s worth doing is worth doing right.

“For us, when it comes to everything we do, whether it be conventional, unconventional, and in many cases both, which really is becoming a foundation of the business, it’s about having the patience and persistence to deliver complementary results over an extended period of time.”



Following the US lead

“We’ve taken on board a lot of the lessons of the early pioneers in the US unconventional plays – companies like Mitchell Energy and Continental Resources. They realised that they had historically been exploring for conventional resources in the areas that had gone on to become big unconventional resources. They had actually intersected hydrocarbons across the intervals that they had traditionally been producing from; and they found that if they drilled deeper than what they were originally focused on, into the secondary targets, they saw a lot of hydrocarbons.”

According to Mr Lingo, this experience has informed the company’s current strategy to search for both conventional and unconventional plays when drilling specific wells in formations the company believes are ripe for unconventional resources. It’s a measured, disciplined approach that minimises risk and maximises the potential reward – essentially giving the company and it’s joint venture partners “two bites of the cherry” with any well.

A ripe hunting ground

With the Cooper Basin being so well previously explored, all explorers have a good database of previous drilling records and information, which has been made open-file by the state government.

“The basin is well understood, but it is not mature in terms of either exploration or exploitation,” said Mr Lingo. “And it certainly isn’t mature in terms of looking at the basin from an unconventional perspective.”

Anyone wanting to embark on the exploration, appraisal and delineation of the unconventional resources in the Cooper Basin can access a good, robust open-file database that provides all the information required. According to Mr Lingo, it is then just a matter of good old elbow grease in terms of analysing the data.

“If you look through the data, starting in 1998, every well drilled in the Cooper can be analysed in terms of its unconventional resource potential.

“As a result, in that respect the Cooper is a very ripe hunting ground,” said Mr Lingo. “And when it comes to other basins across Australia, they have hardly been explored for unconventional potential. But we do know that where we have conventional resources that haven’t been demonstrated to be commercial, then somewhere in that basin there’s going to be a potential unconventional play.”