Australian energy company Santos has started drilling of the Dorado-3 appraisal well located offshore Western Australia.
The Dorado oil and gas field resides in WA-437-P, which is operated by Santos with Carnarvon as its partner.
According to Carnarvon’s statement on Tuesday, drilling has started on the Dorado-3 well with the 30” casing having been set and cemented in place to a depth of approximately 190 meters Measured Depth (MD). As at 6:00am on Tuesday the well was drilling ahead in 26” hole at a depth of approximately 470 meters MD.
The 26” hole will be drilled to a depth of around 1,000 meters MD before 20” casing will be set in place. Following this a 16” hole will be drilled to around 2,600 m MD and 13-3/8” casing set in place.
No hydrocarbons are anticipated to be intersected in these drilling sections.
The well is being drilled using the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up rig, which also recently drilled the Roc South-1 well .
The Dorado-3 well is the second appraisal of the Dorado oil and gas field which was discovered in 2018. The field is located approximately 160km north-northeast of Port Hedland in the Bedout Sub-basin in around 95 meters water depth.
The Dorado-1 exploration well discovered hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs in the Caley, Baxter, Crespin and Milne Members of the Lower Keraudren Formation.
The Dorado-2 appraisal well, located around 2.2km north east of the Dorado-1 well, confirmed hydrocarbon bearing reservoirs in the Caley, Baxter and Milne and importantly demonstrated connectivity within each reservoir between the two wells.
The Dorado-3 appraisal well is located approximately 900 meters north west of the Dorado-1 discovery location.
The Dorado-3 well has been designed to enhance the Joint Venture’s confidence in the subsurface characteristics and confirm reservoir productivity.
Dorado-3 is planned to conduct 2, and potentially up to 3, flow tests targeting the Caley, Baxter and Milne reservoirs, as well as acquire approximately 380 meters of fullbore core in the Caley, Baxter, Crespin and Milne Members. This will result in a significant amount of new data to further characterize the Dorado field.