The Crux-3 well had reached 3918m true vertical depth as of Friday. It is interpreted to have intersected a 150m-thick, gas-charged reservoir section at the main ‘A’ sand level, which is significantly greater than the most likely pre-drill expectation.

“Based on well logs acquired during drilling, the reservoir is interpreted to be similar in quality to the high porosity and high net-to-gross sands seen in other Crux wells,” managing director Ian Tchacos said.

In addition, and as prognosed, the well intersected a 13m-thick gas-charged sand in a younger formation at the same level as the top gas sand seen in the Crux-2 ST1 well. A 72m core was successfully recovered over the upper part of the reservoir section.

“This intersection of a significantly shallower and greater than anticipated thickness of ‘A’ sand at this location is an outstanding result with very positive implications for the Crux liquids project,” Tchacos said.

Nexus said it plans to fully reman the rig and drill ahead to the planned total depth of 3985m, run wireline logs and then conduct the production test.

“The information gathered from the production test will be used in the detailed design of the production facilities for the Crux liquids project,” Tchacos said.

Crux-3 will be the first of three wells drilled in the greater Crux area over the next three months.

Two of these wells will be drilled in AC/P23 on the Crux field. A third will be drilled in the adjoining AC/P41 exploration permit to test the Libra exploration prospect, in which Nexus holds a 50% interest.

The Crux partners are Nexus (85%) and Osaka Gas (15%).