Oz Dorado Find Holds 283mn Boe: Carnarvon
Carnarvon Petroleum said August 30 the Dorado discovery in the North-West Shelf offshore Western Australia holds 283mn barrels of oil equivalent of proven and probable contingent resources.
The total is made up of 171mn barrels of oil, 16mn barrels of condensate and 552 billion ft3 of gas, the company said. Carnarvon holds a 20% interest in the project, while takeover target Quadrant Energy (operator) has the remaining 80%.
Australian oil and gas independent Santos said August 22 that it will acquire 100% of Quadrant Energy for $2.15bn.
“We welcome them to the joint venture and look forward to working with their team, whom we know well,” Carnarvon’s managing director Adrian Cook said August 30.
“We expect to be considering our forward program and development options around Dorado very soon. We’re clearly keen to advance this work and intend to provide you with regular progress updates,” he told shareholders on a note on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Wood Mackenzie Australasia upstream senior analyst Daniel Toleman August 16 called Dorado Australia’s biggest oil discovery this century.
“It has been such a long time since Western Australia had a significant oil discovery that most people have given up looking for liquids. The last discovery over 50mn barrels was way back in 2003. And you have to look back to 1996 to find a 100mn-barrel discovery,” he said at the time.