Gold Hydrogen’s Ramsay 3 Delivers Highest Productivity Yet as Helium Flow Testing Begins
Gold Hydrogen has reported its strongest reservoir deliverability results to date from the Ramsay Project in South Australia, with initial testing at Ramsay 3 recording a Productivity Index of approximately 40 barrels per day per psi and gross fluid rates exceeding 8,000 barrels per day during wellbore clean-up.
The early results come ahead of the main stabilised helium flow-testing program and provide the first operational indication of how the larger Ramsay 3 completion performs compared with Ramsay 1 and Ramsay 2. Gold Hydrogen says the approximately 40 bbl/day/psi Productivity Index is the highest recorded across the project so far.
Ramsay 1 and Ramsay 2 previously produced a derived Productivity Index of approximately 34 bbl/day/psi. The higher Ramsay 3 figure suggests stronger reservoir inflow and permeability around the new well, although the measurements remain preliminary and were obtained during the clean-up phase rather than the main stabilised flow test.
The result is particularly relevant because Ramsay 3 was deliberately designed as a larger-capacity appraisal well.
Unlike the 4.5-inch casing used at Ramsay 1 and Ramsay 2, Ramsay 3 uses a 7-inch cased, cemented and perforated completion, providing approximately 2.3 times the wellbore cross-sectional area. The design also accommodates an Electric Submersible Pump capable of handling approximately 20,000 barrels per day or more.
During initial testing, the ESP produced gross fluid rates above 8,000 barrels per day with only limited pressure drawdown. Gold Hydrogen interprets that response as indicating substantial additional well deliverability and says flow rates exceeding 20,000 barrels per day could potentially be achievable under optimised operating conditions. That higher figure remains prospective rather than demonstrated.
The current test is focused on the Kulpara Dolomite, Gold Hydrogen’s primary helium target at Ramsay 3.
The broader helium-bearing Kulpara interval has a gross thickness of approximately 180 metres, from which a 105-metre interval was selected for perforation using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance log data. The perforated zones are located between approximately 500 and 800 metres depth.
Gold Hydrogen says the 105-metre perforated interval is making a strong contribution to aggregate well flow, providing an early indication that the completion strategy is successfully accessing productive parts of the reservoir.
Pressure behaviour is another potentially important result from the initial testing.
According to the company, early shut-in pressure build-up data showed negligible pressure depletion following the initial flow period. Gold Hydrogen considers this encouraging evidence of reservoir support and potentially a larger connected gas volume surrounding the well.
Preliminary analysis has also produced an estimated drainage radius of approximately 1.25 kilometres around Ramsay 3. If confirmed through continued testing and reservoir analysis, that could indicate extensive connectivity within the reservoir interval.
These measurements add another dimension to the geological continuity Gold Hydrogen has been building across Ramsay.
Previous work at Ramsay 1 and Ramsay 2 established the presence of the helium-bearing Kulpara Dolomite, while formation evaluation at Ramsay 3 was used to select the current perforation interval. The latest results begin testing whether that reservoir can support the larger-scale inflow rates required for a potential future development concept.
Importantly, Gold Hydrogen has not yet reported a representative helium concentration from Ramsay 3.
The table on page four of the announcement states that gas and water have been recovered during the wellbore clean-up phase, but that there is currently insufficient information to determine corrected helium concentrations or final flow rates. The more than 8,000 bbl/day figure therefore represents gross fluid flow during clean-up, not a stabilised gas or helium production rate.
That distinction makes the next stage of testing particularly important.
Gold Hydrogen is continuing an extended wellbore clean-up to remove workover and completion fluids from the wellbore and near-wellbore region. Once that process is sufficiently advanced, the company expects to move into stabilised flow and representative gas sampling.
The main helium flow-testing program is expected to commence later this week following mobilisation of additional equipment to assist with clean-up and optimisation. Testing of Ramsay 3’s natural hydrogen-bearing zones is scheduled to follow completion of the helium program.
The September 14 update therefore answers one of the first major questions surrounding Ramsay 3: whether the larger completion could materially increase reservoir inflow compared with the earlier appraisal wells.
So far, the answer is encouraging. Ramsay 3 has exceeded 8,000 barrels per day during clean-up, produced the project’s highest derived Productivity Index and shown limited pressure drawdown during initial testing.
Full press release can be found here.
