Oz Dorado Test Flows Exceed Expectations
The latest flow tests at the Dorado oil and gas discovery off Western Australia have exceeded expectations, operator Carnarvon Petroleum said on September 19.
The Dorado-3 well, where Carnarvon and partner Santos confirmed a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir earlier this month, flowed at a maximum daily rate of 48mn ft3 of gas and 4,500 b/day of condensate.
The 12-hour clean-up test was undertaken over a 7.4-metre interval of the Baxter reservoir. The composition of gas and condensate was in line with expectations, Carnarvon said, with around 2-5% basic sediments and water.
“The initial results from the Baxter well test have comfortably exceeded our pre-test expectations, with the measured rates being at the surface equipment capacity, indicating the reservoir had the capacity to flow at significantly higher rates,”” Carnarvon’s managing director Adrian Cook said. “The well test has confirmed our assessment that the Baxter reservoir contains a condensate-rich gas capable of flowing at commercial rates with minimal impurities.”
Tests will continue for another 24-48 hours, at multi-rate flows with pressure build-ups, in order to learn more about the reservoir.
Dorado was discovered last year and has been hailed by Carnarvon as a world-class resource. Santos, which bought the company that found the field, Quadrant, recently upped its resource estimate for the find to 310mn barrels of oil equivalent, including 158mn barrels of oil and 628bn ft3 of gas.