Cooper Energy strikes oil at Christies field

Cooper Energy and its joint venture partner Beach Energy have encountered oil at the Christies-7 location in the PEL 92 exploration licence in Australia’s Cooper Basin.

The well-penetrated oil bearing zones consist of a 5.5m gross oil column in the mid-Namur sandstone and an additional 3m gross oil column in the Hutton sandstone, the well’s secondary objective.

Christies-7 reached a total depth of 1,734m and confirmed the presence of strong oil shows in sandstones of the secondary objective Birkhead formation.

The well will now be cased and suspended for future completion as a mid-Namur oil producer, and will be linked to the Christies production facilities.

Cooper Energy executive director Hector Gordon said the well has a robust oil column which should produce very well, subject to the constraints of production facilities and crude oil transportation capacity.

"Christies was the second field discovered in PEL 92 in 2003. The full development of the field was held back to some extent by the discovery of then larger fields nearby such as Callawonga and Parsons," Hector added.

"The exploration program on the Cooper Basin’s Western flank has been very successful and Christies-7 has added to this success."

Following the successful exploration programme, Cooper Energy forecasts a record production in the 2012 financial year of more than 500,000 barrels of oil and expects more in 2013.

Cooper Energy has a 25% stake in PEL 92 and Beach Energy is the operator with a 75% stake.