ConocoPhillips has made a significant gas discovery with its Essington-1 wildcat exploration well in the Otway basin, offshore Victoria, Australia. While the presence of gas has been confirmed, further evaluation is required to determine the hydrocarbon composition, reservoir connectivity, and mobility to assess the discovery's commercial viability.

Location and Development Potential

The discovery is situated approximately 53 kilometers offshore from Port Campbell, Victoria, and 12 kilometers from existing gas production wells. This proximity to established infrastructure presents the potential for a fast-track development if the accumulation is proven to be commercial.

Well Operations and Initial Results

The Essington-1 well, drilled by the Transocean Equinox rig on permit VIC/P79, reached a total depth of 2735 meters. It intersected gas-bearing intervals in the primary Waarre A and secondary Waarre C sandstone reservoirs, which were close to pre-drill predictions. Wireline log interpretations indicate a gross gas-bearing interval of 62.6 meters (58.5 meters net pay) in the Waarre A reservoir and 33.2 meters gross (31.5 meters net pay) in the Waarre C reservoir.

Required Further Evaluation

Further work is planned to determine potential flow rates, ultimate resource recovery, and commercial viability. The key next step involves Ora wireline formation testing using Schlumberger's platform. This testing will conduct drawdowns and buildups in the Waarre A reservoir to confirm reservoir mobility and connectivity, perform downhole fluid analysis to confirm the hydrocarbon phase and composition, and recover hydrocarbon samples for PVT and compositional laboratory analysis.

Forward Plans

Operations at the Essington-1 well are expected to finish by the end of November, after which the well will be plugged and abandoned. A second exploration well, Charlemont-1 on the same permit, is scheduled to commence in December, subject to weather and operational conditions. Additional future wells may be considered under the accepted Environmental Plan. The partners in the VIC/P79 permit are ConocoPhillips (51%, operator), Korea National Oil Corporation (29%), and 3D Energi (20%).

This material is an AI-assisted summary based on publicly available sources and may contain inaccuracies. For the original and full details, please refer to the source link. Based on materials by Amanda Battersby. All rights to the original text and images remain with their respective rights holders.