
Santos and its partner Carnarvon Petroleum claimed that the Baxter flow test in the Dorado-3 well in the Dorado field offshore Australia has exceeded expectations.
The multi-rate flow testing of the Dorado field, contained in the WA-437-P permit, and located in the Bedout Basin, revealed that the Baxter gas and condensate reservoir has excellent productivity and fluid quality, said Santos.
The Baxter formation flow test, which has been completed, is the first of two planned for the offshore Australian field. The partners plan to carry out testing of the primary Caley oil reservoir in the coming weeks.
According to Santos, the initial clean-up test over the Baxter oil and gas reservoir was carried out over a twelve-hour period and the flow rate reached a maximum rate of nearly 48 million standard cubic feet per day of gas and 4,500 barrels per day of associated condensate via a 60/64inch choke.
The well test was performed over a 7.4m net interval between 4,136-4,156m measured depth and had achieved with 150psi of drawdown.
The Dorado-3 appraisal well was drilled up to a total measured depth of 4,643m with the Noble Tom Prosser, a jack-up mobile offshore drilling unit, in a water depth of 95m.
Santos said that once operations are wrapped up, the appraisal well will be plugged and abandoned, which marks the conclusion of this year’s offshore drilling programme for the company.
In June 2019, Santos and Carnarvon Petroleum announced that the drilling of the Dorado-2 appraisal well confirmed the pre-drill expectations of the Dorado discovery, which was made in July 2018.
Santos CEO comments on the update on Dorado field
Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said: “The flow rate in the Baxter confirms our interpretation of a high quality reservoir with excellent productivity and condensate-rich gas with low levels of impurities.”
“This result further increases our confidence in our ability to commercialise the significant condensate resources in the Dorado field.”
“We look forward to the results from the planned test of the Caley oil reservoir, which should close out the Dorado appraisal program and allow us to work towards a Final Investment Decision on the project, which is now one of the most exciting growth projects across the Santos portfolio.”
Santos is the operator of the WA-437-P permit with 80% stake with the remaining 20% stake held by Carnarvon.