Santos says an appraisal well has proved more gas at the Barossa discovery in the NT/RL5 permit offshore Northern Territory.

Barossa-3 was the second of a three-well campaign. It was drilled 300 km (186 mi) north of Darwin, 9 km (5.6 mi) from the Barossa-1ST1 discovery well and 14 km (8.7 mi) from the earlier successful Barossa-2 appraisal well.

Wireline logging from Barossa-3 has confirmed 104 m (341 ft) of net pay over the Jurassic Elang Formation sands at between 4,032 and 4,184 m (13,228 and 13,727 ft) MD.

On test, the well flowed to surface 27 MMcf/d (764,554 cm/d) through a 68/64-in. choke with a flowing wellhead pressure of 1,304 psi (90 bar). Rates were constrained by the downhole tubing size.

A condensate/gas ratio in the range of 4-5 bbl/MMcf was measured at surface, with analysis suggesting carbon dioxide content in the gas of 18-19%.

The result, Santos says, demonstrates the presence of high permeability sands over an extensive area of the field, which could supply gas for either back-fill or expansion at Darwin LNG.

The company and partners ConocoPhillips (operator) and SK Group have since spudded the third well in the campaign, Barossa-4.

Elsewhere in the Bonaparte basin,  Santos says the Bayu-Undan Phase 3 project is more than 70% complete and on track to deliver first gas later this year. Operator ConocoPhillips has commissioned two new subsea production wells. The first has been completed and drilling of the second is under way. These will be tied-back to the existing platform facilities, delivering incremental liquids recovery and higher offshore well capacity.

Source: Offshore Magazine