Cooper Hits Gas Off Victoria
Cooper Energy has found gas in the Otway basin off the coast of Australia’s Victoria state, the Sydney-listed company announced on September 6.
The Annie-1 well reached a depth of 2,442 metres and encountered a 70-metre gas column with net pay thickness of 62 metres, Cooper said in a statement. Wireline logging operations to collect pressure and sample data will be carried out to assess the resource's size.
The find marks the first offshore discovery in the Otway basin since the identification of the Netherby gas field in 2008. It is located 9 km off the shore in waters 58 metres deep, 15 km west from Cooper’s producing Henry gas field and 11 km from the depleted Minerva deposit.
“We are very pleased with the success at Annie. It is very encouraging for future exploration in the offshore Otway basin and for our strategy to build gas production around the hub of the existing Minerva gas plant,” Cooper’s managing director David Maxwell commented.
Cooper said the find was mid-range of its pre-drill estimate. Earlier it reported Annie-1’s best estimate at 70.5bn ft3.
Cooper holds 50% interest in the licence containing Annie, with Japan’s Mitsui E&P controlling the remaining share. Annie-1 is the first of two wells the pair plan to drill under a $80mn campaign. The second, Elanora, is targeting an even bigger resource.
The Annie discovery comes after Australian explorers Strike Energy and Warrego Energy reported a "significant" gas find in Western Australia in late August.