Santos gearing up to spud second appraisal well at Dorado

Australian oil and gas firm Santos is gearing up to drill the second appraisal well at the Dorado field offshore W. Australia.

Carnarvon Petroleum, Santos’ partner in the project, has said that the Dorado 3 well’s aim is to help understand the Dorado field reservoir architecture better, calibrate the petrophysical models to support better definition of reservoir properties such as porosity, permeability, and hydrocarbon saturation, and provide rock samples for detailed engineering studies in preparation for development.

The Dorado oil field, found in 2018, is located approximately 160km north-northeast of Port Hedland in the Bedout Sub-basin in around 95 meters water depth.

The oil discovery has been described as one of the largest ever oil discoveries in Australia’s North Western Shelf. The discovery was made by Quadrant Energy, a company subsequently bought by Santos.

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, to be drilled by the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up rig,  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 two, and potentially up to three, flow tests targeting the Caley, Baxter, and Milne reservoirs, as well as acquire approximately 380 meters of full-bore 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,” Carnarvon said on Thursday.

The Noble Tom Prosser drilling rig is currently preparing to move to the Dorado-3 appraisal well site over the upcoming weekend. The rig has recently completed drilling operations at the nearby Roc South field, with Santos failing to find hydrocarbons. 

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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