Santos announced on April 16 the successful appraisal of the Corvus field, with Corvus-2 confirming a significant gas resource in the Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia.

The well, located in petroleum permit WA-45-R, in which Santos has a 100% interest, is approximately 90 km (55 miles) northwest of Dampier in Commonwealth waters and reached a total depth of 3,998 m (13,116 ft). The well intersected a gross interval of 638 m (2,093 ft), one of the largest columns ever discovered across the North West Shelf.

Wireline logging to date has confirmed 245 m (803 ft) of net hydrocarbon pay across the target reservoirs in the North Rankin and Mungaroo formations, between 3,360 m (11,023 ft) and 3,998 m (13,116 ft).

Higher permeability zones than encountered in Corvus-1 have been observed from initial pressure sampling completed in the well. Compared to Corvus-1, initial samples acquired from Corvus-2 indicate a significantly higher Condensate Gas Ratio of up to 10 bbl per million standard cubic feet and a similar CO2 content of 7%.

Corvus-2 is approximately three kilometers southwest of Corvus-1, which was drilled in 2000. The water depth at location is 63 m (206 ft). The field is approximately 28 km (17 miles) from the Reindeer platform, which delivers gas to the Devil Creek domestic gas plant near Karratha, and about 62 km (38 miles) to a Varanus Island tie-in point. Santos has a 100% interest in all these facilities.

The well was drilled using the jackup mobile offshore drilling unit, Noble Tom Prosser, and will be plugged and abandoned as planned once logging operations are completed.

“Corvus-2 has delivered a fantastic result and has opened up a number of additional exploration opportunities in the region,” Kevin Gallagher, Santos managing director and CEO, said. “It is particularly exciting to have realized a higher liquids content and significantly bigger resource volume than we expected.”

Offshore