Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has made the largest oil discovery to date in Cooper-Eromanga basin permit PEL 91 and broken its drought with an oil discovery in PEL 92.
Both finds are on the western flank of the Cooper basin in South Australia west of Moomba.
Beach’s Bauer-1 in PEL 91 has encountered a 15 m gross oil column with 13 m of net pay in the Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous McKinlay-Namur sandstone. A preliminary assessment indicates 2 million bbl of recoverable oil.
Additional shows were encountered in the underlying Mid-Jurassic Birkhead formation secondary target over a 12 m interval.
Bauer-1 is the fourth successful wildcat discovery in the current PEL 91 five-well campaign. Beach is operator with 40%. Drillsearch Energy Ltd., Sydney, has the remaining 60%.
The joint venture expects to bring the new find on line during the fourth quarter of this year.
The rig has been moved to the fifth prospect in the program–Searcy-1, about 8.5 km north.
In PEL 92, Beach has scored in the last of its six-well exploration program in the permit with an oil discovery at Rincon-1. The well encountered a 5 m thick oil column with 4.5 m of net pay in the McKinlay-Namur sandstone. The preliminary assessment is 500,000 bbl of recoverable oil.
Beach will move the rig to drill Elliston-1, about 25 km south, to open a nine-well exploration and development program on PEL 92.
Beach has 75% interest in PEL 92. Cooper Energy Ltd., also of Adelaide, holds the other 25%.
