Western Flank Oil Fairway - Arno-1 Oil Exploration Well Spuds
- Arno-1 oil exploration well spuds
- Prospective recoverable oil (high) of up to 1.3 million barrels in the Namur and 500,000 barrels in the Birkhead
- Well targeting both Namur and Birkhead plays
- Drilling expected to take 10-14 days
Drillsearch Energy Limited (ASX: DLS) is pleased to announce that following its second success in the Western Flank Oil Fairway drilling program with the discovery of oil at Snellings-1 that Arno-1, the third well in the five well program spudded at 23:00hrs, Thursday 30 June 2011. Drillsearch holds a 60% interest in PEL 91 while Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) as operator holds 40%. To date, Drillsearch has drilled two new oil discoveries on the first two oil exploration wells Hanson-1 and Snellings-1 as part of the 5-well Western Flank Oil exploration program.
The Arno-1 oil exploration well is located approximately 9km north of the Snellings Oil Discovery and 7.1km north of the Chiton Oil Field (see map above). Snellings has two primary objectives in both the Namur Sandstone and the Birkhead Formation. The Cretaceous Namur Sandstone is productive in most of the oil fields to the south. The Intra-Birkhead Formation sands are oil productive in several structures and/or startigraphic traps located approximately 30-50km to the north at Growler, Charo and Snatcher oil fields. Drilling will be to a total depth of 1960mRT and it is expected that the drilling will take 10-14 days.
Seismic mapping of the Namur horizon indicates that the Arno structure has approximately 10 metres of structural relief and potentially encloses an area of 1.2km². The Arno Prospect is estimated to have P10 High-side Recoverable Prospective Resource potential of up to 1.3 million barrels of oil in the Namur Sandstones and 520,000 bbls in the Intra-Birkhead Sandstones.
Arno-1 Estimated Gross Prospective Resources
Best (P50) Mean High (P10)
NamurRecoverable Oil (bbls) 760,000 790,000 1,300,000
BirkheadRecoverable Oil (bbls) 240,000 280,000 530,000
Details of the Arno Prospect are set out in the attached Prospect Data Sheet and accompanying maps and seismic sections.
Arno-1 will be drilled as a conventional vertical well with wireline logging and possible testing planned after the well reaches total depth. The initial target zone in the Namur Sandstone is expected to be penetrated five to seven days after spud with the Birkhead Formation target zone to be penetrated one to two days later.
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