Gas indications from two reservoirs in ConocoPhillips’ Essington well offshore Victoria

ConocoPhillips has discovered gas with the Essington-1 exploration well in the Otway Basin offshore southeastern Australia.

The semisub Transocean Equinox spudded the well on the VIC/P79 exploration permit offshore Victoria on Nov. 1.

According to partner 3D Energi, the 8½-inch hole section penetrated both the primary and secondary reservoir targets (Waarre A and Waarre C), reaching a total depth of 2,735 m.

There were elevated gas readings in both reservoir sections. And in both cases, the gas peaks coincided with elevated resistivity readings seen on LWD tools, which is thought to be consistent with the probable presence of hydrocarbons.

Formation evaluation is underway, with wireline logs acquired across the 8½-inch hole section.

Petrophysical evaluations of the wireline log suite have finished, supported by formation pressure data. Wireline results are also said to support the presence of moveable hydrocarbons, with a gross gas-bearing interval of about 33.2 m evident in the Waarre C sandstone, and reservoir quality in line with pre-drill expectations.

In the Waarre A sandstone, a 62.6-m gross gas-bearing interval includes 58.5 m. In both cases, the recoverability and commercial potential of the gas will undergo assessment following wireline formation testing using SLB's Ora platform.

This will be used to perform controlled drawdowns and buildups across up to two zones in Waarre A to confirm reservoir mobility and connectivity; conduct downhole fluid analysis to confirm hydrocarbon phase and composition; and to recover representative hydrocarbon samples for PVT and compositional laboratory studies.