A tropical cyclone has led Jadestone Energy to pause its infill drilling program at the Stag oilfield offshore Australia, the independent oil and gas production company in an operational update on Monday.
Jadestone said the Ensco 107 jack-up rig arrived on location at the Stag platform on March 15, and preparations for drilling the Stag-49H well had been progressing safely and on schedule, but operations were paused due to severe weather conditions related to tropical cyclone Veronica.
Both the rig and platform were made safe and de-manned, ready to resume operations once conditions improve, Jadestone said.
“The safety of our people is paramount in our business and our procedures require us to shut-down operations and de-man the facility during severe storm conditions,” said Paul Blakeley, Jadestone Energy president and CEO.
“Tropical storms are expected in the area in December and through February and we plan for two to three such weather-related events annually, which apply equally to drilling as well as production operations. Though this storm is later than usual, our response in such circumstances is clear,” Blakeley said.
Jadestone said weather conditions are already easing and drilling operations will resume once it is safe for personnel to return offshore.
Once operations resume, the well will take approximately 34 days to drill, and is expected to be completed using an electric submersible pump and brought on production shortly thereafter, Jadestone said.
Jadestone had announced in February that it intends to drill the Stag-49H well from the Stag wellhead platform, as a horizontal oil producer, targeting unswept pay in the Stag reservoir southwest of the platform. The well is targeting approximately 1.2mmbbls of unswept 2P oil reserves in a higher-pressure area of the Stag oilfield, just west of the platform, it added.
The Stag oilfield is located 60 kilometers offshore Western Australia in the Carnarvon Basin and in a water depth of approximately 47 meters.
Stag was acquired by Jadestone through its wholly-owned subsidiary Jadestone Australia from Quadrant Energy and Santos Offshore in November 2016, and the company has since been working to increase production and extend the life of the field through a combination of well workovers and a $112 million infill drilling campaign that includes one new well in 2018, two in 2019 and two in 2020.