Category-four Glenda, which is expected to hit the Pilbara coast later today, and last weekend’s equally severe Cyclone Floyd have halted operations at the Harriet Joint Venture’s Zephyrus-1 well and nearby Jacala-1 well, Tap Oil announced this morning.
Located about 2.5km south-east of the Agincourt platform, the Zephyrus-1, which spudded last Tuesday, is currently at a depth of 777m. News of the two cyclones has caused the HJV to secure the well and rig, and evacuate all personnel.
The well was designed to test a four-way dip closed depositional mound. If successful, it will be brought onto production immediately via the existing platform into the Varanus Island Production hub.
Tap did not say when the HJV, which includes Apache Northwest and Kufpec Australia, expected drilling operations to resume.
Drilling has also been suspended at the Jacala-1 well, which spudded last Friday, due to operational problems setting the conductor and the evacuation of personnel from the Atwood Eagle rig due to the two cyclones.
Subject to no further adverse weather, the well is expected to re-spud by the end of the week, Tap and partner Roc Oil both said. BHP Billiton is the operator with a 55% interest, while Tap owns 25% and Roc holds the remaining stake.
Jacala-1 is a high-risk, high-reward well targeting a potential 500 million barrels of recoverable oil.
The well, which has a planned total depth of 2322m, is targeting a large four-way dip structure and the reservoir is interpreted to be in Barrow Sandstones at a depth of 2106m.
Glenda, which is the sixth tropical cyclone of the WA season, is expected to grow into a category-five storm before crossing the Pilbara coast with wind gusts exceeding 200kph.
The latest Bureau of Meteorology cyclone warning said the storm was now 310km west-northwest of Broome and 380km north-northeast of Port Hedland and moving down the coast at 17kph.
Last weekend, category-four Floyd caused wind gusts of up to 280kph, but did not threaten the coast or the state’s huge resources industry.
The first big storm to cross the Pilbara coast this year was category-three Clare, which caused evacuations in the region on January 9, as key ports were closed and mining operations shut down.
Earlier this month, cyclone Emma crossed the coast as a category-one storm, after briefly shutting down mining, oil and gas operations in the Pilbara region.
WA’s cyclone season runs between November and April and typically produces five cyclones off the north-west coast.
