Quadrant assumes control of Apache’s interests offshore Western Australia
Offshore staff
WEST PERTH, Australia – The Macquarie/Brookfield-led consortium has completed its acquisition of Apache’s Western Australian business.
This includes all Apache’s Australian production assets, exploration permits, and the management team and staff. The business has been renamed Quadrant Energy.
Assets include exploration permits on the North West Shelf, the WA-435-P, WA-436-P, WA-437-P and WA-438-P exploration permits, collectively known as thePhoenix blocks.
According to partner Carnarvon Petroleum, the Quadrant team have confirmed their intention to drill the Roc-1 exploratory well in WA-437-P during 4Q 2015 using a jackup. Water depth at the location is around 80 m (262 ft).
Quadrant and JX Nippon will fund drilling and testing costs, estimated at around $45 million.
Carnarvon says a commercial discovery will likely be suspended to allow for re-entry within six to 12 months for more extensive well sampling and a flow test. This is partly due to the need to secure government approvals.
Planning is also under way to drilling of additional exploration and appraisal wells in late 2016, subject to the outcome of Roc-1 result, joint venture and government approvals and rig availability.
The Quadrant-led joint venture continues analysis of the Phoenix South-1 well (an oil discovery) and surrounding wells in the permit. Work is focused on reservoir development and quality, the type and potential source of the oils discovered and where it may occur further in the permit.
Fluid inclusion studies are close to completion on all wells drilled previously in the region, and the results will be incorporated into regional interpretation.
This, combined with petroleum system modeling and newly acquired seismic data, will generate regional mapping and ultimately a portfolio of prospects across the Phoenix blocks.
For thePhoenix South discovery, special core analysis should be completed by year-end, designed to improve delineation of the flow characteristics and recovery from the reservoir rock.
06/09/2015
