Infill drilling progressing at Van Gogh offshore Australia

Offshore staff

ADELAIDE, Australia – Santos expects a three-well infill drilling campaign at the Van Gogh field offshore Western Australia to be completed during 4Q.

The semisubmersible Valaris MS-1 has just started work on the second well. Drilling and completion and tie-in activities have ended for the first well, which is due to start up later in the current quarter.

According to Santos, the result was better than expected, with a total horizontal section of 5,430 m (17,815 ft) across the two laterals, almost 500 m (1,640 ft) of additional reservoir section compared with the original plan.

Late in 4Q the jackup Noble Tom Prosser is due to head to the Carnarvon basin to drill the Dancer prospect, 7 km (4 mi) from the Reindeer field. It will drill the Pavo and Apus prospects for Santos in the Bedout basin, 35-40 km (21.7-25 mi) from the Dorado field.

Successful outcomes would lead to subsea tiebacks to the Dorado development.

In May, the Phase 3C infill drilling program started at the Bayu-Undan field in the Timor Sea, with the first of three planned wells drilled to a TD of 3,410 m (11,187 ft).

The well encountered unswept reservoir section as prognosed, and will soon be tied-in to the production complex at the field center. Two further infill wells will follow in the coming months.

Following FID for the $3.6-billion Barossa gas and condensate project in the same region, BW Offshore, the FPSO contractor, has issued main contracts for the hull engineering and fabrication, topsides engineering and fabrication, and for the turret mooring EPC.

On July 13, first steel was cut for the turret. Plate manufacturing has also begun for the gas export pipeline, while fabrication is progressing of subsea hardware and in-field flowlines.

Santos anticipates first gas in the first half of 2025.

07/22/2021