Beach Energy makes coal seams discovery at South Australian prospect

Beach Energy has announced the discovery of 110m of net coal at the Davenport 1 unconventional evaluation well in the Cooper Basin, South Australia.

The well, located in PEL 94, reached a targeted depth of 2,102m where one seam had over 45m of net coal and two other seams recovered net coal thickness above 20m.

Preliminary log data confirmed thick coals and shales in Davenport 1 through the Toolachee Formation, Roseneath Shale, Epsilon and Murteree Shale and Patchawarra Formations along with elevated gas shows across the target formations.

David Wrench, managing director Strike Energy, which has a 35% in PEL94, said the company has encountered one of the thickest coal seams ever recorded in the Cooper Basin and the results are well in excess of its pre-drill expectations.

"The preliminary results from Davenport 1 build upon the positive results from Beach’s and Strike’s Marsden 1 well in PEL 95, and confirm that the Southern Cooper Basin hosts a very significant hydrocarbon resource", he added.

Davenport 1 forms the first well spud in Milpera Trough in PEL 94 to determine the potential hydrocarbon-rich Permian-aged coal and shale formations in the Southern Cooper Basin.

Beach Energy has completed wireline logging to confirm the depth and thickness of the target Permian formations, while sidewall coring of the well found 48 coal and shale samples.

The company and its partners Strike Energy and Senex Energy, which owns a 15% in PEL94, is now drilling a sidetrack well to recover cores in the Patchawarra Formation, after which they will case and suspend Davenport 1 for future testing.