South Africa’s Renergen expects to launch a new phase of drilling in late July, targeting gas-producing fracture systems in its Virginia Gas Project production hub in Free State. As the field has gas permeating up through faults and fissures, rather than a conventional reservoir, the company plans to drill inclined wells at a 45 degree angle to improve gas recoverability. The gas at Virginia is methane with unusually high concentrations of helium – the average concentration is 3.4% and a discovery drilled in December 2019 contained up to 12%, making it by far the world’s richest resource in terms of concentration. By comparison, Qatari helium has a concentration of about 0.04% and US helium about 0.35%.
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