Hi PrawnoI am not ignoring you, just looking after the grandkids...

Hi Prawno

I am not ignoring you, just looking after the grandkids away from my comfort zone (and research tools) for a couple of days.

I agree with strazza. I am a complete amateur compared to Ya and I greatly value the way he shares his knowledge, just like I do the chartists and everybody else's valued input in this forum. That is the beauty of HC where so many are willing to guide us through the various research processes.

My two main geological resources when following the drill (and understanding Ya's comments) are the:

MEO Artemis Overview

and the

RET publication 2010 Regional Geology of the Northern Carnarvon Basin

If we look at Figure 3 on P13 of the RET document we can see the A#1 target reservoirs in the Calypso and Legendre sands. Above these are the Muderong Shale and Dingo Claystone referred to by Ya as the regional seals. These can be seen on P6 of the Artemis Overview but is not as clearly.

Another view of the stratigraphy can be seen in this government brochure here (but bring your binoculars).

As today's release says:

'The well was shut in at 18:00 hrs on Sunday 5th December after encountering an over-pressured gas zone (in the muderong/dingo seal) above the primary objective(Calypso)'.

So, as the drill bit was penetrating the seal there was upwards pressure of gas from the Calypso Reservoir below. As a safety measure and to maintain the integrity of the seal they ran and cemented a 9-5/8 string (pipe) before commencing to drill an 8-1/2in hole on to the Calypso/Legendre formations and eventually TD (3520m), taking core samples on the way. This is a time consuming process as discussed by Ya and fred1 the other day in the 'last drink call' thread. I believe the smaller diameter drill is being used earlier than expected.

I remember reading somewhere that the depth conversion is difficult when using 3D seismic hence the need for caution when nearing the expected target depth.

An updated report will be released on Wednesday unless other important information is gathered beforehand.

Apologies for repeating your post Ya but here is just a dummy translating the situation into drilling for dummies terms:) Please correct me if I am wrong.

What it really means is there is gas under pressure down there which is the reason the rigs have blow out preventers (BOP).

It also means the patience of the LT investors is soon to be rewarded and your mate losty will have to make his profits from higher swings or move to another small cap.

MEO is soon to come of age.

#:>))