Laboratory results show helium concentrations of 3% to 4% at Renergen's Virginia project

29th March 2021 By: Simone Liedtke - Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

Domestic natural gas and helium producer Renergen has obtained laboratory results on the helium concentrations from recently drilled wells P007 and MDR1, which has returned a helium concentration of 3.15%.

Wildcard well P007 returned a concentration of 4.38%.

Renergen on March 29 said that, since its March 11 announcement, the flow rate at MDR1 has increased by almost 90% to about 164 000 standard cubic feet a day, which is consistent with expectations as lost circulation drilling fluids introduced into the borehole dissipate and dry out.

“MDR1 is just 300 m away from MDR5 and 600 m from HDR1, which are both blowers with helium concentrations of about 2%, so getting a concentration of 3.15% was a very pleasant surprise,” CEO Stefano Marani commented.

He added that “it will be interesting to see when and if the helium concentration reduces and stabilises in line with the nearby wells, but a key take-away from this excellent result is that, despite the wells being so close, there does not appear to be any immediate interference between the wells which is a great result for our reserve update”.

The results are a “big leap” forward in corroborating Renergen’s geological modelling of the Virginia gas project, and the potential additional supply of over 40 kg of helium a day from a single well "is quite an outstanding result", the company notes.