Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd (ASX:CVN) is set to benefit from its 20% exposure to a gross 2C contingent resource estimate of 108.8 million barrels of oil gross equivalent declared at the Roc, Phoenix and Phoenix South area.
Quadrant is the operator of the project area and holds 80%, with Carnarvon 20%.
Resource estimates are based on the successful drilling results to date and a foundation of quality data and extensive technical work completed over the course of the last two years.
In addition, the Phoenix South-2 well is targeting gas and condensate in the Caley Sandstone, being gross mean prospective resources equivalent to 107 million barrels of oil equivalent.
Significant additional prospective resources have also been identified within the Roc and Phoenix South area.
Resource estimate details
The resource estimates cover an estimated 3,000 square kilometre area around the Roc, Phoenix and Phoenix South discoveries.
Gross 2C contingent resources comprise of 332 Bscf of gas, 20 million barrels of condensate and 31 million barrels of light oil, equivalent to 109 million barrels of oil.
The Caley and Barret reservoirs are estimated to host 1.5 Tcf of gas, 86 million barrels of condensate and 121 million barrels of light oil in gross mean unrisked prospective resources.
Additional prospective resources exist in the Phoenix South and Dorado prospects in the Milne and Hove reservoirs. At this time, these resources generally have a lower geological chance of success compared with the Caley and Barret reservoir estimates
Next steps towards development
Contingent and prospective resource estimates by definition have geological and commercial risks that require further work, including further exploration and appraisal drilling to unlock.
This is a natural process for any new area and the currently drilling Phoenix South-2 well is the next logical step in clarifying the volume of resources underpinning a development.
The scale of the potential in this project, coupled with the drilling success to date, make this one of the most exciting oil and gas projects in Australia.