Hibiscus Petroleum's wholly-owned subsidiary Carnarvon Hibiscus (CHPL) has commenced drilling operations at its Sea Lion-1 exploration well, off the coast of the state of Victoria, in southeast Australia. Not to be confused with Premier Oil's Sea Lion project offshore the Falkland Islands.
The West Telesto drilling rig arrived at the Sea Lion site on 22 October, following a 196mi tow from its original location. The Sea Lion well was successfully spud on 26 October 2015, the company said.
The planned total depth of the Sea Lion well is 1800m and the exploration program is expected to take up to 30 days. Drilling had previously been delayed due to weather in the Bass Strait, according to partner 3D Oil.
The Sea Lion prospect is located offshore northwest of the Gippsland Basin (permit VIC/P57) where CHPL holds a 75.1% interest, and is approximately 6km from the West Seahorse field (permit VIC/L31) where CHPL holds a 100% interest. In the event of a commercial discovery, Sea Lion offers potential for an integrated development with West Seahorse.
Hibiscus' partner in the VIC/P57 exploration permit, 3D Oil, holds a 24.9% interest. 3D Oil has said that Sea Lion is considered highly prospective as it is on a proven oil-producing trend, and represents one of the last undrilled 4-way dip closures at the prolific ‘Top Latrobe’ level in the Gippsland Basin. The combination of prominent mapped depth structure and the likely presence of thick high quality reservoir sands overlain by the regional seal provides the ingredients of a high quality target.
The estimated prospective unrisked recoverable resources at Sea Lion is 8-15MMbo, with a good probability of success, Hibiscus said.
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