Australian operator Northwest has signed a contract with ENSCO for use of the ENSCO 10 jackup to drill the Dorado-1 exploration well in exploration permit WA-437-P in the North West Shelf of Australia, according to partner Carnarvon Petroleum.
The Dorado-1 exploration well has a number of large targets, says Carnarvon. The primary target is the proven Caley Sandstone which Carnarvon estimates to contain a mean prospective resource of 545 Bscf of gas and 31 MMbbl 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 start in about May 2018 while the Phoenix South-3 well is expected to start around March 2018. Rigs have now been secured for both wells.
Carnarvon’s Managing Director, Adrian Cook said: "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 15km from the highly successful Roc-2 well.”
