Beach Energy Ltd. has cased and suspended Bungaloo-1 on the South Australian side of the onshore Otway Basin, with encouraging gas shows across a number of lithological zones, the company said in a news release.
The well is located about 14 km (9 miles) northwest of the first well in the program, Jolly-1 ST1, and reached a total depth of 3,713 m (12,182 ft).
Results to date have confirmed the unconventional potential of the Lower Sawpit Shale and Casterton Formation in the Penola Trough, with elevated gas readings over both intervals observed during drilling. In addition, oil shows were observed toward the base of the Lower Sawpit Shale in Bungaloo-1, the release said.
The work undertaken indicates that the sandy interval toward the base of the Lower Sawpit Shale, first noted at Sawpit-1 and -2, has lateral continuity in the Penola Trough. This unit has the potential for tight gas pay in the vicinity of Jolly-1, and may be an exploration target deeper in the trough, Beach said.
These wells have also highlighted the potential of a conventional gas play with the Sawpit Sandstone as the reservoir in the deeper areas of the Penola Trough. The Sawpit Sandstone has good reservoir quality at depths of 3,150 m (10,335 ft) in Jolly-1, with porosity ranging from 7% to 18% and averaging 14% over the 330 m (1,083 ft) interval intersected, according to Beach. Work is being undertaken to address the prospectivity of the area stemming from this result.
Beach is the operator with 70% interest, and Cooper Energy Ltd. has 30% interest.
Both Bungaloo-1 and Jolly-1 were drilled to assess the potential for liquids rich gas within the shale and tight sandstone in the Lower Sawpit Shale and the Casterton Formation in the Penola Trough. About 181 m (594 ft) of core was cut within these wells, 103 m (338 ft) in Bungaloo-1 and 78 m (256 ft) in Jolly-1, with analysis of the core underway to measure properties such as gas content and composition, porosity and permeability.
Conventional gas fields in the vicinity of Bungaloo-1 and Jolly-1 produced a cumulative total of 2 Bcm (75 Bcf) of sales gas and 450,000 bbl of condensate from conventional structural targets between 1992 and 2011. Beach retains production licenses and maintains a gas processing facility nearby with a network of connecting pipelines.
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