The Cooper prospect is located about 9km offshore in the EP 325 lease between the Rough Range oil field and the Rivoli gas field. Water depth over the prospect is 17 metres.
Cooper-1 will test a seismically defined four-way dip closed structure. The primary target is the Cretaceous Birdrong Sandstone which has oil and gas accumulations in nearby fields.
“The shallow water depth and proximity to shore would result in modest development costs with the potential high productivity of the Birdrong Sandstone reservoir making even a relatively small oil pool discovery economic,” said Strike technical director Jim Durrant.
The proposed total depth is 2072 metres. Drilling of the well is scheduled to take about 10 days, including about one day to tow the rig from its previous location. On a trouble-free basis, the well is expected to reach the objective section about five days on or around Saturday.
Interests in EP 325 are Strike Oil (drilling operator) 40%, Victoria Petroleum NL (operator of record) 32.5%, Sun Resources NL 10%, Bow Energy Limited 10% and Black Rock Oil & Gas PLC 7.5%.
