Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (ASX:CVN) and its joint venture partner and project operator Quadrant Energy have commenced drilling at the Phoenix South-3 well.
The well is in waters off north-western Western Australia with other projects such as Condor and Eagle to the north and Labyrinth and Maracas to the south.
Since arriving on site, the rig successfully completed the ‘ready to operate’ process and has finished drilling the 42-inch hole in preparation for the 36-inch surface conductor.
Aiming to penetrate and evaluate hydrocarbon bearing formations
The primary objective for the Phoenix South-3 well is to evaluate the gas and condensate potential of the Caley Member within a large, faulted closure that was partially penetrated with the Phoenix South-2 well.
Phoenix South-2 encountered gas and condensate in the Caley Member but was unable to drill through and evaluate the formation.
The Phoenix South-3 well has been optimally designed to penetrate and evaluate the hydrocarbon bearing formations of the Caley Member.
READ: Carnarvon Petroleum trades strongly ahead of active drilling campaign
Drilling of the Phoenix South-3 well is estimated to take around 90 days to reach the target depth of about 5,500 metres.
The operator’s plans encompass staged drilling just above and through the Caley reservoir section.
The well will target a closure that is estimated to contain a gross mean recoverable prospective resource of 489 Bscf (billions of standard cubic feet) of gas and 57 million barrels of associated condensate, which is equivalent to 143 million barrels of oil.