Special Report: With WA’s gassed up Perth Basin increasingly becoming a hotbed of activity, drill rigs are getting harder to source. But Talon Petroleum (ASX:TPD) has now set the course for drilling of its Walyering-5 appraisal well after locking in the same rig that drilled Strike’s headline grabbing West Erregulla discovery.

Also a joint venture partner, and operator, in EP447 which covers the Walyering-5 well, Strike Energy (ASX:STX) has inked a new deal with Ensign Energy Services for the drilling of the appraisal well using Rig 970.

Walyering is one of three drilling slots secured by Strike Energy and will be the first well drilled following the completion of the West Erregulla drilling campaign, also operated by Strike utilising Rig 970.

“Given the competition for rigs in WA, securing Ensign Rig 970 is another important milestone for Talon as we prepare for our initial drilling activity in the Perth Basin,” Talon managing director David Casey said.

“Having been utilised by Strike for an extensive campaign at West Erregulla, Rig 970 will provide the EP447 joint venture with a fit for purpose rig and a ‘match fit’ operating team to execute the drilling of Walyering-5.”

Talon and Strike are targeting an in-place best estimate prospective resource net to Talon of up to 38.7 billion cubic feet of gas and 0.98 million barrels of condensate.

The joint venture partners are progressing planning for drilling of Walyering-5, which they expect to begin in mid-2021.

Talon has already determined that Walyering-5 has good quality gas, containing less than 1 per cent carbon dioxide, which requires very minimal processing. This also lowers the cost.

Additionally, the high condensate ratio has the potential to further enhance the economics of Walyering.

That along with the permit’s proximity to both existing pipeline infrastructure and potential commercial gas users could see very early and rapid commercialisation of any discovery, Talon says.

 

One of Australia’s leading gas provinces

Western Australia’s Perth Basin is becoming one of Australia’s leading gas provinces thanks to recent exploration success like the ultra-deep West Erregulla-2 well and the more recent Beharra Springs Deep-1 well.

The region’s rise to fame began with the discovery of the deep but prolific Waitsia gas field by AWE in 2014.

That was followed up by Strike Energy’s highly successful West Erregulla-2 well that flowed 69 million standard cubic feet per day (MMscfd) of gas during testing in October 2019.

Further evidence of the Perth Basin’s prospectivity – particularly in the north – came after Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) successfully flowed up to 46MMscfd from its Beharra Springs Deep-1 well.

And it is this prospectivity along with how Strike has leveraged its knowledge from West Erregulla-2 towards de-risking the Walyering play that led Talon to take up a 45 per cent interest.

Walyering is a conventional gas discovery made in the Cattamarra Coal Measures, a play which has seen commercial gas production from the Gin-Gin and Red Gully projects.

Recently acquired, high-quality 3D seismic over Walyering has led to increased understanding and confidence in the Jurassic wet gas play and has indicated the presence

of wet gas potential up dip of the existing Walyering-4 well.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Talon Petroleum, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Read MoreNatural Gas

Featured Companies

You might be interested in