Australian energy company Carnarvon has confirmed the discovery of 171 million barrels of oil within the Dorado structure located in the WA-437-P permit offshore Western Australia.
Image: An offshore drilling platform. Photo: courtesy of suwatpo/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
The firm claims that the discovery is one of the largest oil resources ever found on the North West Shelf in last 30 years.
Carnarvon managing director and CEO Adrian Cook said: “Oil fields of this significant scale are not often found, with the last large field discovery on the North West Shelf being around 30 years ago.
“It is common for additional resources to be discovered in the surrounding area after a large discovery. In this regard we expect to provide the market with further details on prospects identified by the play concept now proven at Dorado, that we believe have the potential to also contain oil resources.”
Following the assessment of the hydrocarbon volumes, the firm reported that the Dorado structure holds 552 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas and 16 million barrels of condensate on a 2C basis.
Cook added: “When combined with the nearby Roc field, the aggregate resource is around 884 billion cubic feet of gas and 36 million barrels of associated condensate on a gross 2C basis.”
“These volumetric results reiterate the significance of the Dorado discovery and we look forward to maturing this resource and finding additional neighbouring resources in our future drilling programs.”
Combining the contingent resources at Dorado, Carnarvon has assessed the 1C resources at 128 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe), 2C resources at 283 million boe, and 3C resources at 566 million boe.
Cook further said: “These volumetric results reiterate the significance of the Dorado discovery and we look forward to maturing this resource and finding additional neighbouring resources in our future drilling programs.”
Privately-owned Quadrant operates Dorado with 80% stake while Carnarvon owns the remaining interest.
Recently, Carnarvon said it has made additional oil discoveries in the Crespin and Milne Members of its Dorado-1 well located within the Phoenix Project based offshore.