Santos Preparing for BOP Testing at Winchester Well (Australia)

Santos Offshore Pty Ltd, the Operator of the Winchester-1 exploration well being drilled in the Dampier Sub-basin permit WA-323-P, offshore Australia, has announced that that at 06:00 hours (WST) on Tuesday, 21 May 2013, the well was at a depth of 2891m MDRT (measured depth below rotary table) and casing operations were underway.

Operations over the last week has seen the the 17″ hole drilled to the current intermediate section total depth and the hole then conditioned before running the 14″ casing and commencing cementing operations.

Planned operations over the coming week are to complete the casing operations and then carry out function and pressure testing of the blow-out preventer prior to commencing drilling the 12 ” hole. Winchester-1 is to be a deviated well and is being drilled by the Ensco-109 jack-up rig. The well is being drilled in approximately 75m of water and to a total depth (TD) of 4803m MDRT. It is scheduled to take approximately 80 days from the 7 April spud date to reach TD.

Winchester-1 is targeting the hydrocarbon potential of Triassic aged reservoirs mapped within a four- way dip closed anticline structural closure. The well has been designed, inter alia, to target at least four potential reservoir zones, each associated with high amplitude seismic events. Winchester-1 is located on the northeast trending Parker Terrace, representing a structural high separated from the Rankin Trend to the east.

The participants in the WA-323-P and WA-363-P permits and their Joint Venture are:  Santos Offshore Pty Ltd 75%  and Winchester Resources NL 25%