Drillsearch reported the planned drilling of up to five exploration wells in PEL 91 in the Cooper Basin Western Flank Oil Fairway in South Australia. Drillsearch and Beach the operator of PEL 91 have agreed to the program. Interests in PEL 91 are Drillsearch (60%) and Beach as operator (40%).

The PEL 91 Joint Venture has matured five robust drilling prospects in the Western Flank Oil Fairway within the Modiolus 3D Seismic Survey. The prospects are named Baudin, Hanson, Snellings, Arno and Searcy. All of the prospects target intervals within the Namur Sandstone, Birkhead Formation Channel Play, Hutton Sandstone and the Poolowanna Formation - all proven oil plays within the Western flank Oil Fairway.

The drilling program will target, on a combined basis over the five prospects, mean unrisked recoverable prospective oil resource potential of 3.5 million barrels with scope for significantly higher volumes if High side unrisked recoverable prospective oil resource potential outcomes are realized for each prospect. Each of the exploration prospects has a mean unrisked recoverable prospective resource oil potential of between 430,000 to 1.1 million barrels and upside unrisked recoverable prospective resource potential of between 1 million to 2.2 million barrels. The details of the mean and high side unrisked prospective resource potential for each of the oil prospects are shown in the table below and show the scope for higher volumes if upside outcomes are realized.

The Baudin, Hanson and Snellings Prospects are all located within 1-2 km of the Chiton Oil Field and are all primarily targeting the Namur Sandstone which has been proven at the Chiton Oil Field. The Namur Sandstone is a highly productive oil reservoir in the Western Flank Oil Fairway as seen in the recent Callawonga, Perlubie, Butler and Chiton Oil discoveries. On initial production test, the Chiton-1 oil well flowed at 2,434 barrels of oil per day.

The Arno Prospect is targeting both the Namur Sandstone oil play proven at the Chiton Oil Field and the Birkhead Channel stratigraphic play. The Birkhead Channel stratigraphic play has been proven at the Wirraway, Growler, Charo and Snatcher Oil discoveries 30-50km north east of the Arno prospect. The Marino-1 well approximately 2km north of Arno encountered oil shows in intra-Birkhead sands in August 2009.

Tags: Drillsearch Energy