MEO told the market that it shut-in the well on Friday afternoon upon learning that a tropical low pressure system had formed into a category 1 cyclone.

At the time of reporting, MEO said Cyclone Helen was within 500 kilometres of the West Atlas drilling rig, which was now secured and the crew evacuated.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the storm is forecast to track eastward over the weekend across the Northern Territory south of Darwin, where it is expected weaken back into a tropical low.

Upon this reclassification, MEO said it planned to reman the rig and start production testing the well.

Before shutting-in the rig, MEO subjected Heron-2 to a prolonged clean-up to clear the drilling fluids from the wellbore and formation.

“The clean-up is required to sample gas and obtain gas flow data in order to make the best estimate of reservoir potential given the possible impact to the formation from the drilling fluids,” it said.

Following Heron-2, the rig will move to the Heron-3 well, aimed at testing the commercial viability of hydrocarbons in a 500-metre horizontal section through the Darwin Formation, the reservoir section of the large Epenarra structure.

MEO also has the option to drill a third well once Coogee Resources finishes its drilling campaign.

The Heron-2 and Heron-3 wells were designed to target the two gas-bearing horizons in the Darwin formation and the deeper Elang-Plover Formation, observed in the Heron-1 well.

The two-well campaign is being funded 75% by MEO and 25% by farminee Petrofac Energy Developments, in return for a 10% stake in the permit.

Petrofac has an option to increase this stake to 15% by funding 37.5% of the well costs.