ADX launches Austrian well campaign with deeper HOCH-1 gas test ahead

Vienna Basin Work Targets Up To 115 BOEPD

ADX Energy Ltd (ASX:ADX) has started an approximately eight-week Austrian well program that aims to add between 95 and 115 barrels of oil equivalent per day across its Vienna Basin fields, while also advancing testing at the HOCH-1 gas discovery. The company is using the MB Well Services workover rig for the campaign.

“The MB well services AW24 rig at the GA-93 well at ADX’ Vienna Basin Fields.”

The largest immediate target is GA-093, where ADX plans to perforate a gas zone and recomplete the well as a gas producer. The company estimates that work could deliver 50 to 60 BOEPD of incremental production. It has also scheduled a down-hole pump replacement at GA-072A, expected to add about 15 BOEPD, and a new oil-zone completion at GA-087, targeting another 30 to 40 barrels of oil per day.

Gas Pricing Adds Timing To Production Work

ADX says the GA-093 work is being undertaken during a period of elevated gas prices and strong winter demand. It cited a European gas price of EUR 86 per MWh, which the company equates to an oil price of US$170 per barrel. That pricing reference is a snapshot rather than a production forecast, but it explains why the gas recompletion has been placed near the front of the schedule.

The program follows an A$5.2 million rights issue launched to fund Austrian production work and gas activity. The current announcement does not provide a cost estimate for the rig campaign or say how much of the targeted uplift has already been secured.

HOCH-1 Moves To Deeper Hall Channel Zones

At HOCH-1, ADX will move beyond the shallow gas reservoirs tested during the first phase and evaluate the slightly deeper Hall Channel zones. The work requires removing the existing completion, drilling out a cement plug to reach the deeper reservoirs, and installing a new production completion before perforation.

“The Phase 2 testing program will evaluate the slightly deeper Hall Channel zones only (refer to figure 2).”

The deeper zones have been mapped and correlated with nearby gas discoveries, and ADX says those correlations indicate a stratigraphic trap extending at least 2.5 kilometres to the southeast. The company also points to reserves data from nearby Hall Channel production wells. Those geological indicators support the testing rationale, but they do not yet establish a commercial flow rate or development decision for HOCH-1.

Eight-Week Schedule Sets Near-Term Catalysts

The GA-093 gas recompletion is scheduled for the week beginning 9 November, followed by the GA-072A pump replacement from 16 November. HOCH-1 Phase 2 work is scheduled for the week beginning 7 December and is expected to require about two weeks of preparation before testing, while GA-087 is planned for the week beginning 14 December.

That sequencing gives ADX several operational readouts rather than a single binary result. The key evidence will be realised production from the Vienna Basin wells and the flow response from the deeper HOCH-1 zones, where the company is testing a geological interpretation that could extend beyond the immediate well location.