Origin discovers gas in Otway (Australia)

Origin Energy has confirmed its Speculant-1 exploration well discovered potentially commercial quantities of gas in Waarre Formation reservoirs in the Otway Basin, offshore Victoria, Australia, within the Origin operated VIC/L1(v) permit.

The Speculant discovery is a tilted fault block structure covering over 7km in a nearshore section off the Otway coast, and sits immediately north of the Halladale and Black Watch fields previously discovered by Origin in 2006.

Origin Chief Executive Officer Upstream, Paul Zealand said, “We are pleased to have discovered new gas resources in the Otway Basin, an area in which we have a long history of operating. We look foward to completing further evaluation of the resource, as we seek to continue to expand our gas portfolio in order to meet growing demand for gas.”

According to Origin, Logging While Drilling (LWD) data acquired during the drilling of the well indicates the presence of potentially commercial quantities of gas within excellent quality sands of the Waarre Formation. This formation contains sands over a gross interval of approximately 100m vertical thickness. Wireline formation pressure data has confirmed the presence of a gas column of approximately 145m within the Waarre C formation. The company says that further evaluation of secondary targets are currently underway. The Speculant-1 exploration well spudded at 04.00 hours EST on September 23, 2014.

Well type and location

The Speculant-1 well is situated approximately 3km off the southern Victorian coastline, about 30km south east of Warrnambool. Extended reach drilling technology is being employed to access offshore gas reservoirs. The well is being drilled using the rig Ensign 931 in conjunction with the development drilling of the Halladale field.

[mappress mapid=”820″]