Cooper Energy told the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday that Callawonga-1 in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin, which was originally due to start drilling this Friday, July 21, was now expected to spud in the next few days after heavy rains resulted in a closure of access roads in the area.
Meanwhile in another area of the Cooper/Eromanga, rain has forced Stuart to postpone drilling Light Fingers-1 until next Tuesday, July 25. The oil exploration well had been initially flagged for spudding by the end of this week.
In the Surat Basin, Bow Energy said unseasonal rain, in addition to wet weather several weeks ago, prevented workers from using heavy equipment to access its Banff-1 well location to prepare the site and move in rig equipment.
As a result, Banff-1 is not expected to spud until at least late August or early September.
But Bow told the ASX its rig-sharing agreement with Beach allowed for some timing flexibility in respect to its 2006 drilling program.
“To this end, Beach and Bow will continue to work together to accommodate these unplanned delays to the rig schedule to allow the required time for the Banff-1 drill site to dry sufficiently,” the company said.
With a planned total depth of 1650m, Banff-1 will test a large four-way dip closed structure, which has the potential to contain up to 34 million barrels of recoverable oil.
The leads and prospects identified to date on the Banff structural trend in the Barcoo Block have a combined recoverable oil potential of 90MMbbl.
Bow is earning a 25% direct working interest in the 6578 square kilometre Barcoo Block by funding 60% of the costs for Banff-1.
Meanwhile, Bow has been granted the exploration rights to ATP 752P for the next 12 years.
Under a farm-in deal with Avery Resources, Bow is fully carried on an exploration earning program of up to five wells and seismic in ATP 752P and will retain 25% direct working interest.
Bow said ongoing prospect generation and seismic reprocessing work in ATP 752P has so far confirmed in excess of 30 leads and prospects near oil fields in adjacent leases with high initial oil flow rates.
“Given the high prospectivity of the Wompi Block, the joint venture has added an additional optional well in this Block and now has plans to drill two firm wells with two option wells in the Wompi Block this year with the first three wells to be funded by Avery,” Bow said.
After Banff-1, Beach will use the Hunt 2 rig to drill two wells before it is returned to Bow to drill the first two firm wells in the Wompi Block, now planned for October.
Bow has also reserved two drilling slots in the Beach/Bow rig sharing schedule for the two Wompi Block optional wells in December.
In the Barta Block of ATP 752P, a 100km Avery-funded seismic acquisition program to detail drilling prospects is planned for October. One firm and one optional well are planned in the block in the first half of 2007 as part of the Avery farm-in program. Bow is negotiating with drilling contractors for a second, larger drill rig to drill in the Barta Block.
The company adds that it intends to drill or participate in the drilling of three or more exploration wells within its western Surat holdings next with timing conditional on prospect generation, new seismic in some areas and a successful farm-out of its 100% owned areas. Bow said it was currently negotiating terms with potential farm-in parties.
