Carnarvon Petroleum and Quadrant Energy JV find more oil and gas at Dorado
Following on from last week’s oil find, joint venture partners Carnarvon Petroleum (ASX: CVN) and Quadrant Energy have discovered more oil and gas at the Dorado-1 well off Western Australia’s north coast.
Carnarvon today revealed that additional wireline evaluation has confirmed the presence of gas and condensate in the top of the Baxter Member sandstone, with samples recovered from a “good quality” reservoir containing an estimated gross hydrocarbon package of 21m and a net pay thickness of 10.5m.
Less than a week ago, the company reported the recovery of light oil in the primary target of the well, the Caley Member sandstone, with a gross hydrocarbon package of 96.1m and a net pay thickness of 79.6m.
According to Carnarvon, the new logging results have confirmed this initial discovery, as well as additional light oil in the uppermost section of the Caley sands.
Pressure data has confirmed that the Caley oil and Baxter gas-condensate finds are separately stacked hydrocarbon columns.
However, Carnarvon noted that the well has not completed drilling through the Baxter Member, so this gas-condensate discovery is still considered an “interim net pay result and may or may not represent a gas cap to further oil resources”.
A liner is now being set in the well before drilling will recommence. The joint venture partners plan to deepen the well to a measured depth of about 4550m to evaluate the Baxter sand as well as the secondary targets in the Crespin and Milne sandstone.
Phoenix South-3 drilling update
In a second announcement this morning, Carnarvon updated the market on the drilling progress of its Phoenix South-3 well.
Both the Dorado-1 and Phoenix South-3 wells are located within the Phoenix project, which is 80% owned and operated by Quadrant, a Perth-based private company. Carnarvon holds the remaining 20% interest in the joint venture.
According to Carnarvon, Phoenix South-3 has been drilled to a measured depth of around 5208m. Casing has been set and cemented in place and the rig is currently preparing to set a liner before drilling ahead to a planned depth of about 5500m.
The primary objective of this well is to evaluate the gas and condensate potential of the Caley Member within a large, faulted anti-clinal closure that was only partially penetrated by a previous well, Phoenix South-2.
This closure has been estimated by Carnarvon to hold a gross mean recoverable prospective resource of 489 billion cubic feet of gas and 57 million barrels of associated condensate.
Although Phoenix South-2 hit gas and condensate in the Caley sands, it was unable to drill through and evaluate the formation due to high pressures encountered in the well. As a result, the drill plan for Phoenix South-3 will employ slower, controlled drilling operations.
Carnarvon shares were 13.06% higher at A$0.407 by midday trade.