The eagerly-anticipated Ironbark exploration well offshore north-western Australia has failed to produce hydrocarbon discoveries and will be plugged and abandoned.
The well in WA-359-P had hoped to discover up to 15Tcf of gas, measuring up to Gorgon and was drilled to a total depth of 5,618m, intersecting the primary target of the Mungaroo Formation at 5,275m.
However, Beach Energy announced the disappointment last week, saying in a statement: “no significant hydrocarbon shows were encountered in the target sandstones. The exploration well will now be plugged and abandoned, in line with pre-drill planning.”
The Ironbark well spudded on October 31 and was drilled by Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Apex semi-submersible.
Cue Energy, who holds a 21.5% interest in the WA-359-P block alongside operator BP (42.5%), Beach Energy (21%) and New Zealand Oil & Gas (15%), said analysis of the well data and results would proceed in the coming months to better understand the Deep Mungaroo play.
Any potential hydrocarbon discoveries in WA-359-P in the Carnarvon Basin are seen as highly attractive as it is located just 50km from existing North West Shelf LNG infrastructure.
Cue Energy shares dived 255% from 23c to 9c on the ASX as results were released and were trading at 7.3c on 12 January.
