CALGARY, ALBERTA - Sept. 8, 2004 /CNW/ - Paramount
Resources Ltd. provides the following update on activities in the
Fort Liard and Colville Lake areas of the Northwest Territories.
At Fort Liard, Paramount and its partners have completed initial
repairs to the wet gas line that connects the M-25 and 2M-25
wells to the Liard production facility. These repairs enabled the
stimulation and in-line flow testing of the recently drilled and
completed Liard 2M-25 Nahanni well. A five-day flow test was
conducted on the 2M-25 well and resulted in raw gas flow rates in
excess of 700 103m3/d (25 MMcf/d) with a drawdown of less than 11
percent that was restricted by the tubing and the maximum
operating pressures of the test equipment. The 2M-25 well is
currently shut in for buildup.
Work will begin shortly on the Liard M-25 well which has been
shut-in since January 2004. A successful workover of the M-25 and
2M-25 wells together with the upgrade to the common facilities
will bring both wells back on in early October with added gross
production of approximately 35 MMcf/d to the current field
production. Paramount is currently reviewing additional wells in
the field for potential workover to maximize production from the
field. Paramount is also using three-dimensional seismic data
over the Nahanni field to identify additional drilling locations
within the pool.
Paramount Resources Ltd. as operator of the well and field holds
a 46.19 percent working interest. Other partners in the well and
field include: Purcell Energy Ltd. (24 percent), Anadarko Canada
Ltd. (21 percent), Devon Canada Ltd. (4.9 percent), Canadian
Natural Resources Ltd. (2.1 percent), Encana Oil and Gas
Partnership and Talisman Energy Canada.
At Colville Lake, north of Norman Wells, Paramount is pleased to
announce the results to date from the drilling activity in this
area of the Northwest Territories. Paramount and its 50-percent
partner, Apache Canada Ltd. ("Apache"), have acquired a
significant land base in the area of some 721,497 acres
(approximately 77 Alberta townships) which includes a ten-year
concession agreement with the local aboriginal people and three
federal exploration licenses (EL 399, EL 414 and EL 426). In
addition to this land position Paramount holds a 100 percent
working interest in 80,608 hectares in EL 424 (approximately 8
Alberta townships).
Paramount and Apache have drilled three wells on the Nogha
prospect with very positive results. The three wells reached
total depth in Proterozoic basalt between 1,400 and 1,500 metres.
The first two wells, Apache Paramount Nogha C-49 and Paramount
Apache Nogha M-17, were cased, completed and flow tested as
successful Mt. Clark sweet gas wells and are currently shut-in.
Post stimulation flow rates in the wells ranged from 3 to 5
MMcf/d.
The third well in the pool, Apache Paramount Nogha B-23, was
drilled down structure from the other two wells and approximately
ten kilometres to the south. The B-23 well was cased and
completed but due to spring break up was not flow tested.
Paramount and Apache plan to return to this well in the upcoming
winter to perform a production test.
Analysis of the flow and build up data from the first two wells
on the Nogha structure is seen as extremely encouraging.
McDaniels and Associates have independently reviewed the
exploration results to date and have assigned Possible Raw Gas
Reserves in the range of 250 Bcf based on a 6,800-hectare area
covered by the Nogha C-49 and M-17 wells. The additional
information from the B-23 well suggests a potential upside to
this estimate. Paramount and Apache are planning additional
drilling this coming winter season on the Nogha structure to
further delineate the reservoir and to prove up additional
reserves.
In the upcoming winter Paramount and Apache plan to drill further
exploratory wells targeting the basal Cambrian on EL 414 - Turton
Lake and EL 399 - Lac Maunoir. The Lake Maunoir location will be
a follow-up to the Lac Maunoir C-34 well that the partners
drilled, cased and tested last year. The results of this well
were very positive but the companies will not release details of
the well at this time for reasons of confidentiality.
Paramount and Apache drilled an additional exploratory well last
winter at West Nogha K-14. This well tested a separate structure
on the aboriginal concession lands and was cased. Due to spring
break up the well was not stimulated or tested. The K-14 well
will be evaluated in the upcoming winter season. Based on the
positive results so far, Paramount and Apache are investigating
several scenarios to bring this gas to market.
Paramount is a Canadian oil and natural gas exploration,
development and production company with operations focused in
Western Canada. Paramount's common shares are listed on the
Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "POU".
