The work – undertaken in conjunction with Easternwell Group, Halliburton and Premium Casing Services – involved running 244mm casing weighing 284 tonnes to a design depth of 4053m and fully cementing the annulus.

“The annulus between the casing and drilled hole has been cemented in one continuous operation over a length of 4044 metres using 178 cubic metres of cement slurry, making this one of the most significant casing and cementing operations undertaken onshore in Australia,” Geodynamics said.

Habanero-3 intersected the top of the hot granite at a depth of 3670m and continued drilling a further 388m into the granite.

Looking ahead, Geodynamics plans to pressure test the casing and cement job to prove its integrity, use the pressure drilling approach to drill the fractured granite and then drill the 216mm hole in the granite to intersect the target fracture zone.

“We anticipate that drilling the 216 millimetre diameter hole will commence within a week and be completed to a hole depth of 4252 metres,” the company said.

“The next well site, Jolokia-1 approximately 10 kilometres from the Habanero site, has been prepared and the Lightning rig will move there as soon as Habanero-3 is complete.”