InterOil's Antelope well discovery could contain 10 tcf of gas

InterOil announced that its Antelope-1 well flowed at 382 mm cf of natural gas per day with 5,000 barrels of condensate per day for a total 68,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day, setting a new record rate for the country of Papua New Guinea.
The flow test recorded a maximum calculated rate at 545 mm cfpd for a dry gas reading through a 6 inch capacity choke that was only opened to 3 1/2 inches or about 30 % of capacity.

Conservatively adjusting the dry gas flow rate of 545 mm cfpd to compensate for 13 bbl of condensate per mm cf results in the 382 mm cf effective gas flow rate reported above. As far as the company is aware, the world record breaking gas flow rate from a vertical well confirms other records recently established by the well, such as the largest vertical hydrocarbon column height in a single onshore carbonate reef structure and the largest calculated absolute open flow (CAOF) at 17.7 bn cf of natural gas per day.
The well results establish the country of Papua New Guineaas a world class gas resource base in close proximity to the largest and most well developed LNG market in the world.

InterOil believes the Antelope-1 well clearly confirms the gas resource potential sufficient to proceed with plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on company land next to the InterOil refinery. Antelope-1 and previous wells, have confirmed over 120 % of full capacity, estimated at 500 mm cfpd, for the first proposed LNG train. Third party resource estimates are underway and will be released when completed in the next few weeks.
Recent settlement agreement with Merrill Lynch uniquely positions InterOil to enter direct negotiations with industry partners on an ownership stake in the Elk/Antelope structure, an ownership stake in the proposed LNG plant and long-term LNG offtake contracts.

According to a report, the government of Papua New Guinea said that the Antelope gas discovery could contain more than 10 tcf of gas, the size and scope of which would make this the largestonshore well in Austral-Asia.
"This discovery now ranks Papua New Guinea as one of the top sources of quality gas hydrocarbons in the world and positions the country to be the next major supply for decades to come," Prime Minister Michael Somare said.