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Writer's pictureMatt Birney

ADX Energy ups Austrian oil production by 8 per cent, adds leads


ADX Energy drilling the Anshof-3 well is now producing oil at 115 barrels per day. Credit: File

ADX Energy has reported an eight per cent increase to its Austrian oil and gas production rate for the past quarter and now plans to drill two appraisal wells at its Anshof discovery to further boost production.


ADX currently has two producing Austrian assets – the Zistersdorf & Gaiselberg oilfields in the country’s north-east and the Anshof-3 extended well test in Upper Austria.


The past quarter’s combined production rate from the company‘s assets jumped to 317 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD), up from the previous period’s rate of 292 BOEPD. The assets produced 28,853 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) this quarter, up seven per cent from 26,896 BOE.


Despite the increased production, total revenue was up just one per cent due in part to a four per cent weakening of the oil price and a significant 48 per cent cut in the gas price, combined with the softening of the Australian dollar against the Euro. But the company took in more than $3.3 million in oil and gas sales for the period to boost its bottom line by $178,000.


The Anshof-3 well test produced oil through the quarter at a stable rate of 115 barrels per day in 86 production days, giving a total of 10,440 barrels, up five per cent from the previous quarter and still producing water-free.


Production from Anshof-3 is currently hamstrung by the lack of surface oil storage facilities, with production dependent upon trucks, which are not permitted to operate on weekends due to road regulations. So as a mitigation, management has refurbished a 50-cubic-metre storage vessel to eliminate the bottleneck and expects to commission the tank this quarter, simultaneously bringing production up to 150 barrels per day.


A sister tank will be delivered at the same surface location to store oil produced from the Anshof-2 development well once it is drilled. Anshof-2 will be followed by Anshoff-1, which will be drilled at a later date that is yet to be determined.


Upon completing the Anshoff wells and an analysis of their performance, the company hopes to install permanent production facilities at the site with a 4km pipeline to an export facility, or leverage existing production pipelines for tie-ins.


ADX has also been actively exploring and now has 20 prospects across its portfolio, totalling 213 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe). It says 195 MMboe lies within the high impact exploration or trend exploration categories, with about 18 MMboe added to the low-risk low-cost appraisal/exploration category – an increase of 340 per cent due in part to the company leveraging AI to detect stratigraphically trapped reservoir sands on 3D seismic.


The company has matured its work on its Welchau gas prospect by conducting a one-day permitting meeting at the site and expects to have a permit to drill approved in the coming weeks. As part of a technical evaluation at Welchau, four leads were identified around the prospect and the thickness of predicted gas pay increased as internal reservoir architecture was modelled in greater detail.


Drilling operations at Welchau–1 are expected to start in September this year and are likely to continue for up to two months.


ADX is also progressing with its Vienna Basin green hydrogen project as


hydrogen is increasingly considered to be an attractive alternative to natural gas, both from a security of supply and environmental perspectives. Austria is aiming to produce all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and be climate-neutral by 2040. As a result, the country wants to produce 5000 gigawatt hours of green gas by 2030.


A green hydrogen early production concept will be reviewed and developed in the second half of this year. The company’s green hydrogen concept may involve large-scale hydrogen storage in depleted reservoirs within its Zistersdorf & Gaiselberg oil fields.


Geothermal energy is also on the radar for ADX, with the identification of a subsurface opportunity that combines stacked oil and gas targets with a fractured limestone lying underneath that has a modelled reservoir temperature of 110°C. The company says the opportunity represents 18 megawatts of power and can be monetised though district heating and power generation.


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