Initial well production exceeds expectations at Australian offshore oil field

AIM-listed and Singapore-headquartered oil and gas player Jadestone Energy has revealed the results of initial flow testing at a well off the coast of Australia that achieved production rates significantly above expectations.

With production starting in early August 2025, the testing of the Skua-11ST development well at the Montara field offshore Australia showed initial oil production rates, which surpassed 6,000 bbls/d, ahead of previous guidance of 3,500 bbls/d, with oil production rates subsequently stabilizing at 4,400 bbls/d on a 40% open choke before restart of the field’s other subsea wells.

Following the arrival at the field in late March, the Valaris 247 jack-up rig embarked on the drilling operations in April. The Skua-11ST well was completed with downhole inflow control devices, designed to maximize reservoir sweep and recovery from the well, which will be managed in the longer term to maximize overall recovery from the Montara field.

T. Mitch Little, Chief Executive Officer of Jadestone, commented: “We are pleased to report the strong initial flows from the Skua-11ST well, which will meaningfully contribute to higher production from Montara, underpinning our revised 2025 production guidance which was upgraded in July. The increase in production will also reduce Montara unit operating costs and extend field life by approximately one year.”

The Jadestone-operated and owned Montara project, encompassing three separate fields – Montara, Skua, and Swift/Swallow – is located in the Timor Sea offshore Australia approximately 690 kilometres west of Darwin.

The oil from the subsea wells is piped via subsea flowlines to an unmanned wellhead platform and then to the FPSO Montara Venture, which acts as a hub for the Montara fields.

Jadestone is set on pursuing a strategy to grow and diversify its production base both organically, through developments such as Nam Du/U Minh in Vietnam and the Puteri cluster offshore Malaysia, as well as through acquisitions that fit its financial framework and play to the firm’s strengths in managing maturing oil assets.

The company is working on increasing gas production by augmenting recovery from existing brownfield developments.

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