Australia: Quadrant Energy makes its first discovery

Quadrant Energy has struck its first discovery since the company’s establishment earlier this year.

Formed in 2015 after the acquisition by Macquarie and Brookfield of Apache Corporation’s Australian assets, Quadrant Energy has recovered rich gas from its Roc-1 well, offshore Australia, using wireline logging tools. The Roc-1 well is located in WA-437-P, approximately 20km south-east of the 2014 Phoenix South-1 oil discovery, and around 150km north of Port Hedland.

According to Carnarvon Petroleum, a partner in the project, wireline logging over the interval from 4,380 metres to 4,420 metres has confirmed reservoir quality sands with net hydrocarbon interval of 10 metres from the gross 40 metre sand column. Pressure testing has confirmed at least three discrete hydrocarbon columns in the section from 4,380 metres to 4,420 metres.

Formation fluid sampling has confirmed a liquids rich gas with a condensate ratio of 20 to 40 barrels per million cubic feet being evaluated at the rig site using downhole instruments. The fluid type will be confirmed in laboratory testing once the sample bottles are dispatched from the rig.

Carnarvon says that mobility observations during pressure testing indicate good quality reservoir with inferred permeability in the range from 10 to 100 millidarcy.

Carnarvon’s Managing Director Adrian Cook said: “The information obtained while drilling the Roc-1 well confirms a live hydrocarbon system in the area, with indications at this early stage of evaluation that the condensate rich gas resides in reservoir capable of being recovered in a conventional manner.”

Cook says that while the composition of the recovered hydrocarbons will need to be confirmed by laboratory tests, it appears the condensate rich gas is different to the Phoenix South-1 oil that had a high gas content.

He said: “The Roc-1 discovery, together with the information from the Phoenix South-1 discovery last year and the Phoenix-1 discovery in 1980, bodes well for this region and the broader prospectivity within the acreage held by Carnarvon and its partners. Overall the Roc-1 result is exciting and encouraging both in terms of the results for the Roc target and the broader potential for the region given there is potential for both oil and condensate rich gas.”