Strike Energy expands eastern Perth Basin gas play with major Erregulla Deep-1 discoveries

Strike Energy (ASX: STX) has made a pair of high-quality, low-impurity gas finds with the drilling of the Erregulla Deep-1 exploration well in Western Australia.

Erregulla has opened up a deep play in an area where Strike has a significant position in the eastern section of WA’s onshore Perth Basin.

Managing director and chief executive officer Stuart Nicholls said results so far are beyond expectations.

Unanticipated quality

“The discoveries at Erregulla Deep are of higher quality than Strike anticipated prior to drilling, with reservoir quality, formation pressures and lower CO2 content all exceeding expectations relative to the West Erregulla wells,” he said.

“The Erregulla Deep-1 well is the most easterly and deepest penetration of the Kingia-High Cliff sandstones in the basin to date and it is a significant play extender to the east and at depth for Strike’s 100% acreage.”

Mr Nicholls said the well would be completed as a future producer and, on a successful flow test, may add to the overall developable resource in the EP469 / L25 permit that includes the West Erregulla gas field’s independently-estimated gross 452 petajoules of 2P plus 2C contingent resources.

Deepest onshore well

The well was drilled to a total measured depth of 5,225 metres, making it the deepest well ever drilled onshore in Australia.

At the higher Kingia sandstone, the well intersected a 58m gross interval with 26m of gas pay and in the 62m lower High Cliff sandstone the well intersected a 23m gross interval with 2m of gas pay.

Strike intends to follow up on potential identified in a 19m section of gross Irwin River coal measures identified in the early stages of drilling.

This zone had a strong mud gas response and was measured to be substantially over-pressured but cannot be categorised as a discovery at this time as a sample was unable to be collected due to a bore-hole breakout.

Sizeable estimates

The Erregulla Deep structure was initially estimated to contain an original-gas-in-place range of between 230 billion cubic feet and 560Bcf, with a potential gross unrisked prospective resource range between 165Bcf and 403Bcf.

Following this initial success, Strike believes it is well-positioned to take advantage of the potential of this most easterly penetration of the Permian gas play in the Perth Basin.

Strike has a commanding acreage position across its 100%-owned tenure on the eastern flank of the play in exploration permits EP503, 504, and 505.

The company believes the thickness and quality of the Erregulla Deep-1 result at depths of approximately 5,000m also improve the prospectivity of much of its acreage.