Co-venturer Great Artesian Oil & Gas said even though moveable oil was recovered by drill stem tests from two separate zones in the Patchawarra formation, it appeared the high water saturations and apparent pressure depletion would result in an uneconomic production attempt.
But on a brighter note, the company said the oil discovery had confirmed the continuity across PEL 91 of the ‘oil fairway' between the Christies, Sellicks, Callawonga and Parsons oil discoveries to the southwest and the Growler and Wirraway oil discoveries to the northeast.
"In spite of the decision to plug and abandon Murrippi-1, Great Artesian is encouraged by the information gained from the well and the positive indications for further exploration in PEL91," the company said.
"There were no hydrocarbon shows in the Jurassic (basal Birkhead Formation/Hutton Sandstone) objectives providing further evidence that the Jurassic oil trend lies further to the west, on-trend with the Callawonga oil field."
