ConocoPhillips finds gas offshore Australia in unexpected interval
3D Energi has provided an update on drilling operations at the ConocoPhillips-operated Charlemont-1 gas exploration well in the Otway basin offshore Victoria.
The semisubmersible Transocean Equinox spudded the well on the VIC/P79 exploration permit on December 10.
On Christmas Day, the well encountered what 3D Energi described as “significant gas shows” around in the Waarre C target area, 160 m above the primary targeted interval Waarre A.
As pressures at a subsurface depth of 2,552 m were higher than expected, drilling was halted temporarily to allow for potential adjustments to the well design, including options to continue drilling to the primary target.
Pre-drilling, the partners had not anticipated intersecting gas at this shallower level.