Drilling rig arrives at Pavo-1 well site

Carnarvon Energy has said that the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up drilling rig has arrived at the Pavo-1 well site in the WA-438-P exploration permit offshore Western Australia, operated by Santos, and is ready to commence operations.

The Noble Tom Prosser jack-up drilling rig has completed the move to the Pavo-1 well location and has concluded the jack-down and other pre-drill operations. The rig is preparing to commence drilling the surface hole.

The rig will drill the surface hole down to around 175 m Measured Depth (MD) and install the Conductor.

After the Conductor has been set and cemented in place, the rig will drill the 17 ½” hole to the planned section depth of approximately 1000 m MD followed by setting the 13 3/8” casing. The well will then be deepened in the 12 ¼” hole to around 3000 m MD before setting the 9 5/8” liner. This will provide a stable foundation for the well to drill into the deeper reservoir section.

No hydrocarbons are anticipated to be encountered in these hole sections.

The Pavo-1 well is targeting a gross mean recoverable volume of 82 million bbl of liquids and 108 billion ft3 of gas in the Caley Formation sands which flow tested at equipment limits of around 11 000 bpd in the Dorado-3 well. This is an attractive prospect, having an estimated one-in-three (34%) geological probability of success.

Carnarvon holds a 30% interest in this resource, meaning the net liquids resource could be similar in volume to Carnarvon’s interest in the Dorado field in a success case.

After drilling the primary Caley target, the joint venture has the option to drill into deeper stratigraphy including the Lower Archer Formation Dumont Member sands, and the Permian carbonates. Information from these intervals will be highly valuable in assessing the substantial exploration potential north and east of the Pavo prospect.

Following completion of the Pavo-1 well, the rig will drill the Apus-1 well which is located around 20 km south-west of the Pavo-1 well location.

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