Santos plans development of North Slope’s Quokka Unit
Key Highlights
- Santos started development planning in the Quokka Unit on Alaska’s North Slope.
- The Quokka-1 appraisal well encountered a high-quality reservoir in the Nanushuk formation.
- Santos has started development planning, including the initiation of key permitting activities.
Santos Ltd. has started development planning in the Quokka Unit on Alaska’s North Slope after further delineating the Nanushuk reservoir.
The Quokka-1 appraisal well spudded on Jan. 1, 2026, about 6 six miles from the Mitquq-1 discovery well drilled in 2020. It was drilled to 4,787 ft TD and encountered a high-quality reservoir with about 143 ft of net oil pay in the Nanushuk formation, demonstrating an average porosity of 19%. Following a single stage fracture stimulation, the well achieved a flow rate of 2,190 bo/d.
Reservoir sands correlated between the two discoveries, coupled with fluid analyses, confirm the presence of high‑quality, light‑gravity oil, supporting strong well performance and improved pricing relative to Pikka oil. Together with additional geological data, these results underpin the potential for a two‑drill‑site development with production capacity comparable to Pikka phase 1, the company said.
Rate and resource potential for the two-drill-site development is being evaluated. Resource estimation is ongoing and appraisal results will be evaluated as part of the FY26 contingent resource assessment. In FY25, Santos reported 2C contingent resources of 177 MMboe for the Quokka Unit.
Based on these results, Santos has started development planning, including the initiation of key permitting activities.
Santos is operator of the Quokka Unit (51%) with partner Repsol (49%).