08-02-2013, 04:12 AM
| More bad news as Palta plugged | |||
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Thursday, 1 August 2013
WITH weather delays and rig issues plaguing the drilling of Palta-1, it has now emerged that the well did not intersect commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.
Royalty-holder Octanex told the market this morning that the well in WA-384-P had reached total depth, with Shell deciding to plug and abandon it.
The Palta-1 well in WA-384-P is being drilled to target the giant Plata prospect, which may contain about 13.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Companies in neighbouring permit WA-460-P – Cott Energy, WHL Energy and Strike Energy – think as much as 18% of the prospect may land within their permit, making Shell’s drilling campaign important beyond the immediate permit.
Finding 13.5Tcf of gas would also be one of the largest discoveries in decades off the coast of WA.
Work by the Noble Clyde Boudreaux drilling vessel has been rumoured to cost $60 million with some reports putting the figure towards $100 million.
This would make it one of Australia’s most expensive wells, ahead of Woodside Energy’s ill-fated Gnarlyknots-1 in 2003.
Shell previously said that any follow-up drilling of the Palta prospect would be dependent on the outcome of Palta-1.
It is thought the rig will now move onto the Prelude field to start development drilling for the Prelude FLNG project.
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