Australian oil and gas company Quadrant Energy has begun drilling operations at the Phoenix South-2 appraisal well offshore Western Australia, in line with the schedule announced last week.
Carnarvon Petroleum, Quadrant’s partner in the project, said on Friday that the Phoenix South-2 well drilling began on October 30 and has been drilled down to around 1,500 meters measured depth.
The Phoenix South-2 well is located in exploration permit WA-435-P in the North West Shelf of Australia at a water depth of around 100 meters. It is approximately 160 kilometers northeast of Port Hedland and 2 kilometers east of the Phoenix South-1 oil discovery well.
The objective of the well is to evaluate commerciality of the Phoenix South field and appraise the Phoenix South-1 oil discovery. It will also explore gas and condensate in the deeper Caley Sandstone similar to the gas-condensate discoveries of Roc-1 and Roc-2 .
Quadrant Energy is the operator and holds an 80 percent stake in the permit while the partner, Carnarvon Petroleum, holds the remaining 20 percent.
Carnarvon also said on Friday that the 20” (508mm) casing is currently being set in place. After it has been set and cemented, Quadrant will begin drilling the 17 ½” (445 mm) hole.
The Ocean Monarch ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig is expected to take between 2 to 3 weeks to complete the drilling of the 17 ½” hole down to a depth of approximately 3,500 meters measured depth before running the 13 5/8” (346 mm) intermediate casing. The company doesn’t expect to intersect any objectives in this hole section.