New Standard Energy spuds Nicolay #1 well in Australia’s Canning Basin.

New Standard Energy has announced the spudding of Nicolay #1 well, part of the Goldwyer Project in Australia’s Canning Basin.

This is the first of three well drilling programme undertaken by the company and is expected to take 55 days to complete.

The primary objective of well, which will be drilled to a target depth of approximately 3,450m, is to gather data over a comprehensive section of the Goldwyer formation.

Under the programme, mud logging, full coring and electric wire-line logs will be taken over a significant thickness of prospective Goldwyer formation, while data will also be gained over secondary targets of the overlying Bongabinni and Nita formations.

The MB Century Rig #14 is currently drilling ahead in a 17 ½ inch hole towards the first casing point.

New Standard Managing Director Sam Willis said that the spudding of Nicolay #1 well is the first modern drilling programme to be undertaken in over 30 years in the southern portion of the Canning Basin.

"Despite the early stage nature of the Goldwyer Project, the combination of New Standard’s pre-drill technical evaluation, the potential resource size as estimated by independent third parties and the technical input from Goldwyer co-venturer ConocoPhillips provides confidence to the company that the drill program was based on a solid foundation," Willis said.

"The data we will obtain from the mud logs and electric wireline logs, together with the full cores that we retrieve, will provide an important first look at the prospectivity of the Goldwyer formation and valuable information for future wells and subsequent phases of the exploration programme."