Australian oil and gas company Western Gas, the operator of the offshore Exploration Permit WA-519-P, said Friday it would drill the Sasanof-1 exploration well offshore Western Australia in Q1 2022, using a Valaris semi-submersible drilling rig.
The Sasanof Prospect is on trend and updip of the Mentorc Gas and Condensate Field and nearby the Giant Gas Fields of Scarborough
and Io-Jansz in the Carnarvon Basin, Western Gas said.
The Sasanof Prospect covers an area of 505 km2 and is estimated to contain 24 Tcf gas and 1.1 Billion bbls condensate (P50 GIIP1), with a geological chance of success of 35% based on Western Gas estimates.
"Sasanof-1 will be Western Gas’ first well drilled from its extensive exploration portfolio surrounding the existing Equus Gas Project that contains a discovered resource of 2 Tcf and 42 MMbbl (2C Gaffney Cline2)," the company said.
According to Western Gas, the Equus Gas Project has a historic exploration drilling success rate of 88%, with 15 discoveries from 17 wells.
"Through the licensing and reprocessing of 3D seismic in the area Western Gas has developed an exploration portfolio of over 20 leads and prospects from Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous in age. These opportunities range from low-risk Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator (DHI) supported Triassic prospects similar to many fields in the region to large play opening Jurassic Syn-rift leads."
"Sasanof is supported by DHIs with strong amplitudes defining the prospect and the reservoir is anticipated to be of high quality and effectively sealed at the top of the Lower Barrow Group," the company said.
Valaris rig, AGR expertise
Credit: Western GasWestern Gas has secured the Valaris MS-1 mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) to drill the well. The MS-1 (formerly Atwood Osprey) is a Generation-6 Deepwater semisubmersible MODU currently operating in waters off the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia.
Drilling will start at the earliest in mid-February 2022, subject to approvals, with an estimated total campaign duration of 25 days.
To assist it with the exploration program, Western Gas has hired AGR, the Norwegian well engineering, drilling project management, and reservoir management firm.
Under the well management contract, energy services partner AGR will provide well construction, drilling engineering, procurement, supply chain, regulatory compliance requirements, and operational supervision of the well.
The Sasanof-1 is located in approximately 207 km northwest of Onslow, offshore Western Australia, in a water depth of approx 1,070m.
"This is an important project in a major exploration field and we look forward to supporting Western Gas in achieving their ambitions in the license permit,” said Andy Perchard, AGR’s VP APAC (pictured).
"This contract award follows a number of recent wins for our team in Perth and strengthens AGR’s position as the leading provider of Well Management and Well Engineering consultancy in Australia and Asia Pacific.”
Executive Director of Western Gas, Will Barker, said “We have contracted AGR to help us achieve enhanced operational performance within a safe environment. AGR’s Well Management team has a great depth of experience when it comes to this type of activity and we are delighted to have them on board for Well Management on Sasanof-1.”
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