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Two wells drilled, one more to go for TMK in Mongolia
TMK Energy continues to put runs on the board at its Gurvantes XXXV coal seam gas project in Mongolia, striking “gassy coal” at the second pilot production well in its three-well drilling program.
The second well, Lucky Fox-2 (LF-2), was successfully completed this week to a depth of 407 metres and struck about 62 metres of gassy coal in the production interval. Last month, well number one, Lucky Fox-1, was drilled to a depth of 375m and hit about 60m of gassy coal.
The pilot well program is being conducted by a Canadian-based drilling company in the Nariin Sukhait area of the project and TMK says to date the program is running on time and on budget with no operational issues – and that is good news for the company, which has a goal for the early commercialisation of Gurvantes XXXV.
The drill rig is now undergoing routine maintenance before mobilising for well number 3, which is 175m south-west of LF-2. TMK’s plan is for the program to be completed at the end of this month and it will then move to demonstrate proof of concept and bring gas to surface.
Upon completion of the drilling operations, the production wells will be connected to surface facilities and the wells placed on pump over a six-month production testing period. The data gathered from the production test will deliver valuable information to help formulate the development plan for the Nariin Sukhait area, whilst we head east with our 2023 exploration program in an effort to add to the already significant contingent (2C) resource the Gurvantes XXXV Project delivered from the 2022 exploration program.
Gurvantes XXXV covers about 8400 square kilometres in the south of Mongolia, close to the China border. TMK is eager to commercialise its coal seam gas potential quickly to take advantage of nearby selling opportunities. The project is close to the Northern China gas transmission and distribution network, in addition to several big mining operations.
Gurvantes XXXV is a joint venture between TMK (67 per cent) and Talon Energy (33 per cent). Talon’s involvement occurred when it signed a $7.44 million farm-in agreement in January, 2021 with Telmen Energy – the project’s then-owner. Under the terms of the agreement, Talon agreed to fund most of the proposed pilot well program and TMK has become the beneficiary of that deal after it bought Telmen Energy in February last year.
TMK announced last month that it had raised nearly $6 million from sophisticated and institutional investors to accelerate and expand its exploration activities. The company’s 2023 drill program will target areas with known coal east of the central Nariin Sukhait area, which it also focused on last year with its maiden exploration program that delivered a gross 1.2 trillion cubic feet contingent resource (2C).
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