The jack-up drilling rig Noble Tom Prosser is close to being on location to drill the Dorado-2 well offshore Australia, Carnarvon Petroleum announced this week.
The Dorado-2 well is the first appraisal of the Dorado discovery that was drilled in the second half of 2018 in WA-437-P, in which Carnarvon holds a 20% stake. Santos is operator of the block with the remaining 80% interest.
Dorado-2 is located approximately 160 kilometers north-northeast of Port Hedland in the Bedout Sub-basin, and around 2.2 kilometers from Dorado-1.
The well is planned as a down-dip appraisal well to delineate the hydrocarbon contacts in the Caley, Baxter and Milne Members of the Lower Keraudren Formation. The results from this well will be used to increase subsurface certainty and provide additional comfort that the Dorado structure has sufficient hydrocarbons to support a development. Drilling will take place in approximately 95 meters water depth.
Following the Dorado-2 well, Noble Tom Prosser is scheduled to drill the near-field exploration well Roc South-1, also in in WA-437-P. The Dorado-3 appraisal well will then follow immediately after.
Carnarvon Petroleum's managing director Adrian Cook said, “We expect the 2019 drilling program to be the most significant in the company’s history with three important wells designed to solidify the case for a substantial oil and gas development.”
The Noble Tom Prosser drilling rig recently drilled the Corvus-2 appraisal, which confirmed significant gas resource in the Carnarvon Basin.