Triangle Energy Global hopes to increase production from its Cliff Head platform by replacing a downhole electrical pump that failed last year after 12 years in operation at the field, the only offshore producing facility in the prolific Perth Basin. The well was closed in September and the phased workover is expected to bring an extra 130 barrels a day from Cliff Head 10.
The average life of an electrical submersible pump, or “ESP” is about four years. To get 12 years operation in a harsh marine environment is an excellent performance. When it failed in September last year, its absence was sorely felt by Cliff Head joint venture partners. The workover operations on the CH-10 well started today.
The replacement work on the failed ESP will be phased in over the coming months.
In addition, the JV expects to increase oil production by isolating a deeper water producing reservoir.
Triangle hopes the extra 130 barrels of oil per day will lift daily production from the ageing field back above the 800 barrel mark whilst the oil price remains above US$115 per barrel.
The JV recently announced a lifting from the field that brought in about A$21 million – the last tranche of Cliff Head oil to be sold through BP Kwinana before the venture trucks its product to Geraldton and onto south-east Asian markets.
The 500 tonne Cliff Head A platform was installed in December 2005 after the 2001 Cliff Head-1 discovery well and three subsequent appraisal wells. Crude oil is piped 14km onshore to the dedicated Arrowsmith processing plant and will be transported by trucks to the port of Geraldton for export to south-east Asian markets now that BP has shut its Kwinana refinery.
In October 2020, BP stunned WA producers when it announced it would shut the Kwinana refinery after 65 years of operation, affecting virtually every onshore oil producer in the state.
Securing alternate export channels has been a challenge for the industry. The Cliff Head partners decided to increase capacity by refurbishing storage tanks at the Arrowsmith Stabilisation Plant and use Geraldton as an export route.
Triangle Energy Global Managing Director, Conrad Todd said: “The CH-10 well workover will allow the CHJV to restore the production lost due to failure of the downhole pump and furthermore to increase production by shutting of water from a deeper reservoir.”
As Triangle shifts its focus onshore and into gas exploration, the company will revert from 78.75 per cent ownership to a 42.5 per cent stake in a move that will slash Triangle’s abandonment liabilities for the offshore oil field and associated assets.
The company has its sights on deeper gas fields along the route of the Dampier-to-Bunbury natural gas pipeline in the Perth Basin such as the large Waitsia, Senecio, Walyering, West Erregulla and Lockyer Deep gas fields. The 117 million cubic feet per day flow rates from Lockyer Deep were among the highest recorded in Australia.
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By Matt Birney
