Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (ASX:CVN) aims to add more than 1 trillion standard cubic feet of gas and 88 million barrels of associated condensate from drilling underway on the North West Shelf of Western Australia.
The company’s partner Quadrant Energy has started a new drilling program at the Phoenix project with the Phoenix South-3 well underway and the Dorado-1 well to start in May.
Carnarvon has 20% of the project with Quadrant holding 80% and is the operator.
READ: Carnarvon Petroleum begins drilling Phoenix South-3 well to unlock gas, condensate potential
The objective of the 2018 drilling program is to build on the already discovered oil and gas resources and to assist in future decisions around optimising a commercial development.
Four discoveries have been made from the four wells drilled to date by the JV partners at Phoenix - Phoenix South-1, Roc-1, Roc-2 and Phoenix South-2.
Gas resources to date total 332 billion standard cubic feet (Bscf) while condensate resources total 27 million barrels (mm bbls).
Carnarvon and Quadrant believe the volumes from the Phoenix South-3 and Dorado-1 wells will materially improve these resources.
READ: Carnarvon Petroleum trades strongly ahead of active drilling campaign
Phoenix South-3 alone is estimated to contain a gross mean recoverable prospective resource of 489 Bscf of gas and 57 mm bbls of associated condensate, which is equivalent to 143 million barrels of oil.
The Dorado structure also has the potential to contain a number of additional targets beneath the Caley interval.
These could contain significant additional volumes of gas and condensate, albeit having a lower predicted chance of geological success.
The partners believe an exciting aspect of the Phoenix project is the potential to unlock further gas and condensate and oil through additional drilling.
Targets already identified within comfortable tie back distance to a development around the Roc area include the Apus and Mensa prospects.
In addition, a large number of prospects and leads are continually being matured through ongoing technical work.
Key investment attractions
Phoenix has a number of key attractions for investors, including dual income stream potential from oil and gas, proximity to infrastructure and positioning in shallow water of about 100 metres.
The latter substantially reduces the cost and complexity of a development, allowing for the aggregation of discoveries in the near vicinity.