Meridian logs another gas discovery

Meridian Resources Corp. has another significant gas find with the Avoca 6-1 well in the N.W. Bayou Chene area of Louisiana. The well was drilled to 11,500 feet, and logged more than 40 feet of pay in the Big Hum 2 sands at 10,748 to 10,791 feet, the company said June 7.

A test of the well through 40 feet of perforations showed a gross daily flow rate of 6.5 million cubic feet of gas and 214 barrels of condensate with no water production at a flowing tubing pressure of 3,608 pounds per square inch through an 18/64th-inch choke. The successful well follows another nearby discovery May 16 in the Avoca 5-2 well at Bayou Chene, in the coastal area south of Baton Rouge. That well showed a gross daily flow rate of 2.3 million cubic feet, also from the Big Hum 2 sands but at a depth of more than 11,000 feet.

Meridian, based in Houston but exploring and producing mostly in the marshlands of Louisiana, has a 92 percent working interest in both wells, and expects to build a pipeline and facilities to put the wells into production during the early part of the third quarter.

The rig used for both of those wells was moved to the company’s nearby Turtle Bay prospect to drill the CL&F D-1 well. The company is expecting to keep three or four rigs busy for the rest of the year as part of a $139 million capital budget.

—Allen Baker