The US energy giant said the Julimar East-1 well tested 85 million cubic feet of gas per day, the same result achieved by the exploration wildcat drilled 5.8km to the southwest in April.
Julimar East-1 logged 224 feet of net gas pay in six sandstone reservoirs of the Triassic Mungaroo formation, according to Apache chief executive Steven Farris.
"With 70% more net pay than the initial discovery, the Julimar East-1 well strengthens our belief that the ultimate recoverable reserves in the Julimar complex could exceed 1 trillion cubic feet,” Farris said.
A discovery of that size would represent 13% of the proved gas reserves Apache reported at the end of 2006.
The appraisal well was drilled to a depth of 4120m in 171m of water, about 140km from the coast of northwest Australia.
Apache is operator and holds 65% of the development, located in WA356P, while Kufpec has the remainder.
Australia accounted for about 8.6% of Apache’s global production last year and about 8.8% of its proved reserves.
