Santos completes Moomba South Phase I appraisal in Australia

Santos has completed the first phase of Moomba South Patchawarra Formation appraisal programme in the Cooper Basin, Australia.

The overall multi-phase campaign is devised to delineate and convert potential resources in Patchawarra tight gas sandstone reservoirs into proven reserves.

In Phase I, the company drilled eight vertical wells, all of which encountered gas-bearing Patchawarra sandstone fluvial channel reservoirs.

Multiple additional gas-bearing zones have also been encountered in the Toolachee and Epsilon formations.

Preliminary analysis of the gas samples indicate higher natural gas liquids content and lower carbon dioxide content compared to adjacent field production. The well test rates have registered a flow of up to 8.7 million standard cubic feet per day.

Seven appraisal wells were brought online while the remaining one is plugged and abandoned.

Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said: “I am very pleased that the Moomba South phase 1 appraisal programme has confirmed a significant gas resource and resulted in seven new wells now producing in the Cooper.

“The programme also successfully targeted two exciting new plays in the Granite Wash and Fractured Granite, which have the potential to add significant new resources. Testing of both plays resulted in stable gas flows to the surface.”

Results of this programme will help in designing the field development planning for the Moomba South project. Further drilling may also be carried out at the end of this year.

The Moomba South appraisal programme is the first such campaign to determine contingent resource maturation in the Cooper Basin.

The Patchawarra reservoir system, situated within the Moomba South field, is expected to host significant gas potentiality across the tight sandstone reservoirs.