Carnarvon Petroleum’s (ASX:CVN) partner Quadrant Northwest Pty Ltd has signed a contract to drill the Dorado-1 exploration well within the Phoenix Project located offshore Western Australia.
The Dorado-1 exploration well has a number of large targets.
The primary target is the proven Caley Sandstone which Carnarvon estimates to contain a mean prospective resource of 545 billion cubic feet of gas and 31 million barrels of condensate.
The Milne Sandstone is a secondary target which may contain up to four additional sands of a similar size, albeit with a slightly higher risk.
The Dorado-1 well is expected to commence around May 2018 while the Phoenix South-3 well is expected to commence around March 2018. Rigs have now been secured for both wells.
Adrian Cook, managing director, commented: “The results of our 2018 drilling program are expected to be important contributors to our knowledge of the Bedout sub-basin and its near term commerciality.
“2018 will be an exciting time with the Phoenix South-3 well evaluating the gas and condensate already discovered in the nearby Phoenix South-2 well, while the Dorado-1 well will be exploring for significant gas and condensate volumes over multiple reservoir sands only some 15 kilometres from the highly successful Roc-2 well.”
The Dorado-1 well is located within the WA-437-P exploration permit, which Carnarvon has a 20% interest in alongside partner and operator Quadrant Northwest.
The contract was signed with ENSCO Australia Pty Ltd and the Dorado-1 exploration well will be drilled using the ENSCO-107 jack-up drilling rig.