Rick Wilkinson
OGJ correspondent
MELBOURNE, Oct. 5 -- Two semisubmersible rigs—the Jack Bates and the Ocean Patriot—have arrived off Victoria to begin multiwell drilling campaigns.
They join the Ensco-102 jack up, which has been in the region for 2 months drilling development wells on Sydney-based Origin Energy Ltd.'s Yolla gas field on Production Licence T/L1 in the Bass basin off Tasmania. The Ensco rig will next move to drill the Trefoil-1 wildcat well in the same permit area about 40 km from Yolla field.
The Jack Bates, previously in Norway, will spud its first well, Callister-1, on PL Vic/P51 in the Otway basin off Victoria for Santos Ltd. this week. The rig will then move to adjacent deepwater PL Vic/P52 for Santos to drill its Amrit-1 wildcat in more than 1,000 m of water.
The Ocean Patriot arrived in Victoria's offshore Gippsland basin from New Zealand. Its first well, Moby-1 on PL Vic/P47 adjacent to the producing Patricia-Baleen gas fields, will be spudded this week for Bass Strait Oil Co. Ltd., Melbourne.
The rig then will drill the Bass Strait Oil Zane Grey-1 wildcat on PL Vic/P42, also in the Gippsland basin.
Other wells in the semi's program include Perth-based Apache Energy Ltd.'s Longtom-1 in Gippsland basin PL Vic/P54 to appraise an existing gas find and probe deeper in the stratigraphic section for another potential gas sand.
Ocean Patriot also will drill an appraisal well in Basker oil field for Anzon Energy Australia Ltd., Sydney, which acquired 100% interest in the permit, Vic/P19B, earlier this year. If the appraisal is successful, the rig will return to drill at least one and probably two development wells in 2005.
Santos also will have use of the Ocean Patriot when the rig is moved next year to the Otway basin to drill development wells in Casino gas field in PL Vic/P44.
