Carnarvon Petroleum Limited has announced the Noble Tom Prosser jack-up drilling rig commenced mobilising from the Corvus-2 well location on 26 April 2019 and is now close to being on the Dorado-2 well location.

The Dorado-2 well is located approximately 160 kilometres north-northeast of Port Hedland in the Bedout Sub-basin.

Drilling is in approximately 95 metres water depth with the Dorado-2 location being around 2.2 kilometres from the Dorado-1 location.

The Dorado-2 well is the first appraisal of the significant Dorado discovery that was drilled in the second half of 2018.

The Dorado-2 well is planned as a down-dip appraisal well to delineate the hydrocarbon contacts in the Caley, Baxter and Milne Members of the Lower Keraudren Formation.

The results from this well will be used to increase subsurface certainty and provide additional comfort that the Dorado structure has enough hydrocarbons to support a development.

Following the Dorado-2 well, the rig is scheduled to drill the near-field exploration well Roc South-1 with the Dorado-3 appraisal well to follow the Roc South-1 well.

In commenting on the news, Carnarvon Managing Director, Adrian Cook said, “We expect the 2019 drilling program to be the most significant in the company’s history with three important wells designed to solidify the case for a substantial oil and gas development.”

Dorado and Roc South reside in WA-437-P in which Carnarvon holds a 20 per cent interest.

Santos Limited holds the remaining 80 per cent interest following the acquisition of Quadrant Energy in late-2018.

Map of WA-437-P showing the Dorado field, courtesy of Carnarvon Petroleum Limited.