Latest Skua well offshore Australia set to deliver higher production
Jadestone Energy’s Skua-11ST well at the Montara Field offshore northwest Australia has reached total depth, the company said in an update.
Analysis has confirmed more than 900 m of good-quality reservoir, which is more than double the reservoir section completed in any prior Skua wells. This should lead to higher initial production rates than expected of more than 3,500 bbl/d.
Following completion of operations and demobilization, the well should come onstream in early August.
However, with the drilling campaign taking longer than planned, total capex for the well will likely be in the range $96 million to $100 million, compared to the $70 million previously predicted.
This was down to a combination of unexpected weather events, alterations to the demobilization plan and operational issues during drilling that led to a requirement for additional rig days.
The Skua Field is in production license AC/L8, 706 km east of Darwin in a water depth of about 80 m. Its produced crude oil heads via a subsea flowline for processing at the wellhead platform and FPSO at the Montara Field.
Jadestone CEO T. Mitch Little said, “We look forward to Skua-11ST adding meaningful volumes to group production once tied in, which will immediately reduce unit operating costs at Montara and extend field life by a year. This will add to our previously announced cost management initiatives that we intend to expand to other parts of the group.”
The company will factor lesson learned from this drilling campaign into the planning for any future wells in the Skua area, he added.