Chevron Australia makes gas discovery off W. Australia

Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, Aug. 13 -- Chevron Australia has made yet another natural gas discovery off Western Australia with its Brederode-1 wildcat drilled in Exmouth Plateau permit WA-364-P about 350 km northwest of the coastal town of Onslow.

The well, drilled using the Atwood Oceanics Inc.’s Atwood Eagle semisubmersible rig in 1,387 m of water, found 15 m of net gas pay.

An earlier Chevron well, Kentish Knock-1 in adjoining permit WA-365-P to the east and 300 km from Onslow, encountered a 34-m net gas column in August 2009 in 1,220 m of water.

Both WA-364-P and WA-365-P are operated by Chevron with 50% interest, while Shell Australia has the other 50% in both. They lie to the west of the yet-to-be developed ExxonMobil-BHP Billiton Scarborough gas field, which was discovered in 1979.

Despite their isolation and great distance from the coast and existing infrastructure, Chevron counts the discoveries as further evidence of the high gas potential of the Exmouth Plateau region and the frontier development opportunities offshore northwest Australia.