Emperor Energy Ltd. began the farm-in process for the Judith-2 appraisal well in Gippsland basin offshore Victoria, Australia.
Drilling is scheduled for mid-2026, with Emperor in advanced discussions with Valaris to secure a jackup rig currently operating nearby. The well will target the 166 bcf Judith East 2C contingent resource plus the underlying 142 bcf P50 prospective resource in the deeper Judith East Longtom Sands. Successful appraisal may result in a total 308 bcf 2P reserves from the Judith East Block.
Judith East deeps were not reached by the original Judith-1 discovery well and are equivalent to the prolific Longtom Sands (100, 200 and 300) that were in production at Longtom gas field, about 15 km to the west of Judith.
Upon success of Judith-2 there may be an opportunity to drill a sidetrack up-dip from the well into the Northeast fault block, accessing an additional 364 bcf of identified P50 prospective gas resource, potentially resulting in 672 bcf total 2P gas reserve.
Emperor Energy 100% owns and operates Judith field.
