Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd (ASX:CVN) has provided an update on drilling operations as advised by the operator of the Roc-2 well, Quadrant Energy.
Carnarvon holds a 20% interest, with Quadrant 80%.
The well is located on Australia’s North West Shelf, and has been designed to appraise and test the Roc-1 gas-condensate discovery revealed earlier in the year.
The Roc-2 appraisal well is required to delineate the extent of the Roc field, calibrate reservoir parameters, understand reservoir deliverability and characterise fluid properties.
The North West Shelf is Australia’s most prolific oil and gas region.
Progress
Since the last report the 17 ½” (445 mm) hole has been drilled to around 2,230 metres measured depth.
A mechanical issue with the rig’s drilling system occurred since the last report. The issue has been rectified and the operator minimized costs during this period.
As a result, the well is around 10 days behind schedule.
Current Operations
The well is continuing to drill in the 17 ½” (445 mm) hole section.
Forward Plan
The rig is expected to take around 1 week to drill the 17 ½” (445 mm) hole down to a depth of around 3,500 metres measured depth before running the 13 5/8” (346 mm) intermediate casing.
No reservoir objectives are anticipated to be intersected in this hole section.
The well will then be deepened in 8 ½” (216 mm) hole to just above the reservoir target.
The primary target for the Roc-2 well, the Caley sands which were gas and condensate charged at Roc-1, is expected to be cored with coring activities expected to commence late August or early September 2016.
Due to the nature of these operations, no information will be available to the joint venture during the coring process, which is anticipated to take 5-10 days.
The company said that it expects to be in a position to report on whether the target formations are hydrocarbon-bearing, and the extent of any reservoir sands intersected, after completion of a drilling wiper trip with Logging While Drilling (LWD) tools at the completion of the coring process.
The well will then be deepened to explore for the secondary targets to a total depth of up to 5,250 metres.
Analysis
Carnarvon remains well-funded with A$87.7 million held in cash plus future receivable up to US$31.3 million and A$8 million well carry.
If Roc-2 encounters the 2C and mid / best case estimates of gas and condensate, it is likely that the Roc resource will be commercial and well advanced in terms of being re-categorised as reserves.
At the base of the Roc-1 well, promising hydrocarbon shows were encountered in an additional sandstone section, named the Milne sandstone.
The Roc-2 well is being planned to test the extent of these deeper hydrocarbons encountered at the TD of Roc-1.
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