MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's oil corporation plans to pad drill 55 wells for gas in Tierra del Fuego

ENAP current production of gas in 450.000 cubic meters per day

Chile's petroleum corporation, ENAP, is planning to drill 55 non conventional new wells in Tierra del Fuego beginning September until the end of 2015, with the purpose of increasing the current production from 450.000 cubic meters per day to a million cubic meters of 'tight' gas.

 The objective is to have sufficient gas to supply Magallanes region in the extreme south of the country, according to a report from Punta Arenas, La Prensa Austral.

“In this stage we are beginning next week we will introduce technological changes to optimize production and minimize problems. All our surveys indicate that the fracturing system used in the Arenal block will facilitate the drilling of several wells in the same location” pointed out Francisco Diaz Anaiz, ENAP Magallanes head of Exploration and Production.

However Diaz Anaiz admitted that additional funds had to be requested which means that in 2015 the overall budget could climb to 250 million dollars, “if we take into account that 100 million were invested in 23 drillings in the block and which recently concluded”.

Of the 55 wells planned, 10 will be drilled in what is left of 2014 and the other 45 next year, while 38 of them will be with the “pad drilling” system, which allows working on several wells in the same location using directional drilling.

Enap Magallanes union leader Alejandro Avendaño Gallardo praised the decision saying that “it was in the right direction because with ten wells from now until the end of the year, plus those planned for 2015, we could very well be supplying Magallanes the coming winter, with the needed gas supplied by Enap”.

The union leader added that in the first weeks of September, the equipment will be reconditioned to begin with the pad drilling once all the locations have been marked.