Australia: Quadrant gears up to spud Phoenix appraisal well

Following the recent success of the Roc-2 appraisal well, Quadrant has decided to proceed to the Phoenix South-2 appraisal well offshore Western Australia. 

Carnarvon Petroleum, Quadrant’s partner on the project, said on Tuesday that the Phoenix South-2 (PS-2) well drilling is expected to begin within the next seven days. Quadrant Energy is the operator and holds an 80 percent stake in the permit while the partner, Carnarvon Petroleum, holds the remaining 20 percent.

The Phoenix South-2 well is located in exploration permit WA-435-P in the North West Shelf of Australia at a water depth of around 100 meters. It is approximately 160 kilometers northeast of Port Hedland and 2 kilometers east of the Phoenix South-1 oil discovery well.

The operator, Quadrant Energy, said that company would use the Ocean Monarch ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig for the drilling of the Phoenix South-2 site. PS-2 will be drilled down to a total depth of around 5,500 meters and will take around two months to complete.

This well is appraising the Phoenix South-1 oil discovery that Carnarvon announced back in August 2014 and will also evaluate similar structures to the gas-condensate discoveries of Roc-1 and Roc-2.

Carnarvon Managing Director and CEO, Adrian Cook, said: “We are thrilled to be returning to the Phoenix South area to drill the Phoenix South-2 well. The success of Roc-2 which flow tested at a maximum equipment constrained rate of 51.2 million standard cubic feet (scf) per day of gas and 2,943 barrels of condensate per day, highlights the productive nature of the reservoir in this basin.

“This well will appraise the Phoenix South oil discovery that was made in the 2014 Phoenix South-1 well and will drill into the Caley formation that contained gas and condensate in both the Roc-1 and Roc-2 wells. The Caley Sandstone was not an objective of the Phoenix South-1 well in 2014, so this is a very exciting target in the Phoenix South-2 well.

“We also look forward to evaluating the hydrocarbon potential in the Huxley and Hove members in Phoenix South-2 where encouraging hydrocarbon shows were observed during the drilling of the Roc wells.”