Otway well not drilled deep enough: Adelaide Energy Thursday, 18...

Otway well not drilled deep enough: Adelaide Energy

Thursday, 18 October 2007

GEOTECHNICAL studies suggest the Jacaranda Ridge-2 gas and condensate production well, in the onshore Otway Basin, never intersected the oil sand seen in the earlier discovery well, operator Adelaide Energy said yesterday.



Flaring at the Jacaranda Ridge-2 well

The junior said the Intra Sawpit Sandstone interval - from where Jacaranda Ridge-1 flowed oil in 1999 - was possibly only metres below the total depth of 2760m in Jacaranda Ridge-2.

The company did not discuss whether it was planning to deepen the well.

An analysis of data so far suggests the well could recover about 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas and 60,000 barrels of condensate.

However, the company said possible faulting within the structure had complicated the results.

Despite this, Adelaide said it believed the gas and condensate discovery was promising and provided further encouragement to drill more wells in the area.

"The close proximity of the discovery to gas transportation and processing infrastructure is a bonus and places the company in a good position to commercialise the discovery," managing director Carl Dorsch said.

The company is planning a production logging tool survey and will continue with a 30-day flow test to better understand the reservoir extent and its characteristics.