Australian Senex Starts FY17 Cooper Basin Unconventional Drilling Program

Australian Senex Energy announced December 2 the start of its fiscal year 2017 oil and gas drilling program in the Cooper Basin.

The current drilling program will comprise a multi-well oil campaign including exploration, appraisal and development opportunities, and a high impact unconventional gas exploration well.

Unconventional gas exploration

Pre-drill operations will commence on the Silver Star-1 gas exploration well (PEL 638: Senex 53.75% and operator, Origin Energy 33.75% and Planet Gas 12.5%) in January 2017, with the well to be spudded in February. The original drilling schedule was delayed due to rig availability, Senex said.

Silver Star-1 is a high impact gas exploration well targeting basin centred gas in the Permian sandstones of the Patchawarra Trough. The well is expected to be drilled to a depth of around 3,600 metres, with a potential lateral section of up to 1,500 metres.

Oil exploration

The second phase of the drilling campaign will commence in early 2017, involving oil exploration prospects located in PEL182 (Senex 60% and operator, Beach Energy 40%). The first wells to be drilled in the campaign are Sparta-1 and Hoplite-1, which have been defined by the Jasmine 3D seismic survey. The wells will target the productive Namur oil horizon.

Senex MD and CEO, Ian Davies, said Cooper Basin remains core to company’s growth strategy and it will continue to deploy capital at “a moderate rate on high value opportunities, targeting reserves replacement and production.”

 Shardul Sharma