Chevron joint venture finds gas offshore Western Australia

Three high-quality reservoir zones adds to 21.5 trillion cubic feet of certified proven, probable and possible gas in WAPET-operated permits

Petroleum News Alaska

Chevron said Sept. 24 that it has made a significant natural gas discovery offshore Western Australia with the Geryon No. 1 well, operated by the West Australian Petroleum Pty. Limited joint venture.

The wildcat discovery well, Geryon No. 1 was spudded last month in 1,232 meters of water and reached a total depth of 3,515 meters subsea. Initial results indicate hydrocarbon gas pay in three high quality reservoir zones with a total net gas pay of 113 meters over a 242 meter gross interval. This was the first exploratory well in permit area WA-267-P, which was awarded to WAPET in 1997.

“This is an important discovery for the joint venture and could significantly add to the abundant gas reserves Australia can offer to overseas buyers in the form of liquefied natural gas” said Richard Matzke, a director of Chevron Corp. and president of Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc. “This also further strengthens Chevron’s position as the largest single holder of gas reserves offshore Western Australia.”

This discovery adds to the 21.5 trillion cubic feet of certified proven, probable and possible gas reserves in the WAPET-operated permits off Western Australia.

The deepwater drilling rig Marine 500 will continue its exploration drilling program until November, and will return to Western Australia early in 2000 to continue drilling in WA-267-P to further explore the potential of this area.

The joint venture participants in WA-267-P are Chevron Asiatic Ltd. (25 percent), Texaco Australia Pty. Ltd., (25 percent), Mobil Exploration and Producing Australia Pty. Ltd. (25 percent), Shell Development Australia Pty. Ltd. (12.5 percent) and BP Amoco Exploration (Alpha) (12.5 percent).