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Successful Corvus-2 appraisal well discovers significant offshore resource
Santos reports that the Corvus-2 appraisal well on the Corvus field has confirmed 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, reached a total depth of 3,998 metres. It intersected a gross interval of 638 metres, one of the largest columns ever discovered across the North West Shelf, according to Santos.
The Corvus field is approximately 28 km from the Reindeer platform, which delivers gas to the Devil Creek domestic gas plant near Karratha, and about 62 km from a Varanus Island tie-in point. Santos has a 100% interest in all these facilities.
The Corvus-2 well was drilled using the jack-up mobile offshore drilling unit Noble Tom Prosser, and will be plugged and abandoned as planned once logging operations are completed.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher, says: ‘Corvus could be tied back to either our Devil Creek or Varanus Island gas plants, where it has the potential to increase the utilisation of our existing facilities as well as provide backfill and extend plateau well into the 2030s. It’s a great start to our 2019 offshore drilling campaign, and it also highlights the value of the Quadrant acquisition and our strategy of pursuing upstream brownfield growth opportunities around existing infrastructure.’
The Noble Tom Prosser drilling rig will now move north to commence the Dorado appraisal programme.
Commenting on the news, Wood Mackenzie Senior Analyst Daniel Toleman says: ‘Based on limited information, our initial estimate is a 2.5tn cf gas and 25mn barrel condensate resource. This will be the largest gas discovery in the Carnarvon Basin since the Satyr-4 exploration well drilled by Chevron in 2009. Santos' stated 254 metre net pay is indicative of a very large gas resource in place, but recoverable volumes will be dependant on the size of the structure, area extent and sand thickness.’
‘Santos suggested that Corvus will supply the domestic market. The field is near to Santos' Reindeer development and if the resource comes in over 2tn cf, we believe Santos will explore opportunities to export the gas as LNG. This is due to Corvus' proximity to the Burrup Peninsula, and a well-supplied domestic market in the short-to-medium term.’
Toleman continues: ‘The North West Shelf has LNG production capacity available from 2021. The Corvus discovery could fill this ullage. If an LNG backfill development is to progress, we expect Santos will look to sell down, as it currently holds 100% in the find. One of the North West Shelf partners would be a logical entrant.
He concludes: ‘Quadrant's exploration portfolio is shaping up to be a good buy for Santos. Dorado was the third largest oil discovery in Western Australia's history and Corvus is likely to be Santos' largest offshore gas discovery ever.’
The Corvus-2 well was drilled using the jack-up mobile offshore drilling unit Noble Tom Prosser
Photo: Noble Corporation
