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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on November 24, 2024 at 2:57

Pantera Minerals calls halt to prospective Lafayette County lithium well

magnoliareporter.com  11/23/2024

Pantera Minerals has shut down its effort to re-enter a well at its Lafayette County lithium brine project.

The Perth, Australia company said in a statement to shareholders that it encountered tubing and packer stuck in hole at 9,750 feet left by a previous operator -- not the current operator -- that had not been reported in previous documents lodged with the state as would normally be required.

After three days of attempting to remove the stuck pipe and packer from the well via a fishing operation the decision was made to shut down operations, and demobilize the rig and all service providers in order to preserve company cash.

While extremely frustrating for the company after12 months of planning, the result in no way diminishes the value of the Pantera Lithium Brine Project and leads to the company bringing forward its plan to drill a fresh and standalone well, the company said.

The process of planning and operating the re-entry has introduced the company to a reliable and competent group of service providers including drilling, operating, safety and environmental groups that will all be utilized on upcoming wells.

The re-entry procedure was selected over a fresh well due to the location of the target re-entry well and potential ability to quickly and economically obtain brine samples for analysis. While the company understood there could be issues with a well that was initially drilled and completed in the early 1980s, it was given confidence as reliable records of well completion data and operations are normally submitted to the state.

The company has subsequently discovered this was not the case and a previous owner and operator of the well failed to detail the stuck pipe and packer issue.

Pantera Minerals is well advanced on planning for a standalone resource definition well that is expected to spud in 2025. Discussions with surface owners have begun and the company expects to be able to update shareholders imminently.

The company has continued to acquire completed mineral ownership data (abstract) via its exclusive abstract agreement with the Lafayette Land & Title Company. The company intends to build on its acreage position which currently sits at greater than 26,000 net acres and 34,900 gross surface acres. Aggressive leasing has continued by other parties surrounding the company’s exclusive abstract area to the north and west.

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on November 24, 2024 at 7:55

Disappointing but not totally unexpected.

I wonder which well they were trying to re-enter.

Rule of thumb for old timers is that any re-entry operation has a high-risk chance of success.

Thinking that they spent around $250,000 on this failed operation.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on November 24, 2024 at 8:00

I'm thinking Pantera is under funded and was trying to get samples on the cheap.  The company likely acquired rights to that well before engaging the services of that "reliable and competent group of service providers". 

Seems Pantera engages in some wishful thinking.  I wish them good luck on their upcoming "fresh well".

"The re-entry procedure was selected over a fresh well due to the location of the target re-entry well and potential ability to quickly and economically obtain brine samples for analysis. While the company understood there could be issues with a well that was initially drilled and completed in the early 1980s, it was given confidence as reliable records of well completion data and operations are normally submitted to the state."

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on November 24, 2024 at 15:31

Only spending three days trying to get the "stuck tubing and packer" out of the hole seems like a short time to persist with this process.

• And if this downhole info was not included in the state paperwork filed for this well, how can Pantera know what is really down hole?

Something doesn't sound right here based on what Pantera has reported.

But I do totally agree with your comment about "under funding".

• The most critical part of any Lithium program is to get good water samples that demonstrate economically viable lithium concentrations.

And the only way to do this is physically test the section (Smackover), get quality reservoir water samples and then hope for good analytical results.

• A lot riding on this operation since poor lithium concentration results essentially condemn their area of interest.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on November 26, 2024 at 4:32

Oxy Enters Arkansas Lithium Rush

Energy Intelligence Group  Published: Mon, Nov 25, 2024

Author Noah Brenner, London Editor Chris Raine

Occidental Petroleum has become the latest oil and gas player to stake out acreage in the emerging lithium play in the US state of Arkansas, joining rivals such as Exxon Mobil and Equinor in the pursuit of extracting the valuable battery metal from brines.

“All we’ve done is get some leases right now,” Oxy CEO Vicki Hollub told Energy Intelligence on the sidelines of the Energy Intelligence Forum in London.

The leases mark an expansion of Oxy’s current lithium efforts, which have been focused around the Salton Sea area of California, where the company's TerraLithium subsidiary is partnered with Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

The pair are looking to extract lithium from brines produced by Berkshire’s geothermal energy production. Oxy and Berkshire are due to begin construction of the first direct lithium extraction (DLE) pilot plant this year. If that is successful, the partners have discussed expanding operations in the region.

Oxy has a 100% interest in its leases in Arkansas, Hollub said, although Berkshire Energy has an option under its existing collaboration with Oxy to partner on future developments in the state if the pair were to choose to move ahead.

Synergies

Oil and gas companies say they see significant overlap between the skills needed for DLE from brines and their own operations, citing expertise in drilling and handling large volumes of fluids.

“We're probably one of the largest handlers of brine in the United States,” Hollub told the Forum. “So acquiring a technology that would get lithium out of that brine was what we felt was within our wheelhouse.”

In total, companies have invested about $200 million in DLE assets, according to figures tracked by Energy Intelligence Research & Advisory’s Low-Carbon Investment Tracker.

The majority of that investment has targeted the Smackover formation in Arkansas and eastern Texas, where brines have higher-than-average lithium concentrations, which promises more economic extraction.

Peer Pressure

Exxon has said it hopes to begin commercial lithium production in Arkansas as early as 2027, while Equinor has spent $160 million on lithium leases in Arkansas and Texas and is undertaking early engineering work for an extraction plant.

Lisa Rebora, the head of the Norwegian giant’s lithium business, told a podcast in August that DLE “has all the hallmarks of becoming an industrial-scale business for Equinor in the future.”

Hollub said DLE operations in the US could “provide a much cleaner lithium for the manufacture of batteries” in the US to offset imports from other countries.

A host of international oil and gas firms, including giants like Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Gazpromneft, have expressed interest in trying their hand at DLE alongside those targeting extraction in the US. However, none have advanced beyond exploratory stages yet.

Hollub said there could be an opportunity for Oxy to use its expertise and license the extraction technology to others internationally.

“We’re getting some calls about opportunities,” she said. “Companies in countries are calling us that have produced fluids that have higher concentrations of lithium.”

 

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Permalink Reply by Rock Man on November 26, 2024 at 8:28

PS to my own comment from Nov 25th

I am wondering if Pantera uncovered paperwork / info after they started this re-entry operation that stated what was really left in the hole?

• That is the only way that they could truly know what was left in the wellbore

And if this is the case, one has to wonder about their efficiencies and approaches as to how they do business

• Sounds like an old well file popped up that contained some non-public info

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on November 26, 2024 at 10:02

I'm wondering where Occidental Petroleum (OXY) acquired it's SW AR brine leasehold.  Exxon is partnered with SaltWorx and Standard Lithium with Equinor.  Is it possible that OXY got their lease position from Pantera?  If the article had mentioned E TX along with SW AR, I would have guessed East Texas Natural Resources (ETNR).

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