• The Dorado-1 well drilling rig has now left Singapore and is heading to the Dorado location
• The drilling rig, being the Ensco-107 jack-up, is expected to be on location in mid May 2018
• Dorado-1 is less than 20km from the Roc discovery which flowed 55 mmscf/d and 3000 bbld/day
• Primary Caley target prospective resource is 545 Bscf of gas and 30 mmbbls condensate (gross, Pmean)
• The well will also assess deeper Milne targets with significant additional gas and condensate potential

Carnarvon Petroleum Limited provides the following update on its near-term drilling program.

The Ensco 107 jackup drilling rig has commenced mobilisation from Singapore to drill the Dorado-1 well. The rig is expected on location in mid May 2018 with drilling anticipated to commence before the end of May. The well is expected to take around 60 days to complete and be at the top of the primary objective in around 35 days.

The primary objective of the Dorado-1 well is to assess the gas and liquids potential in the Caley Member. As depicted in Figure 2 below, the Dorado well is less than 20km from and updip of the successful Roc-1 and Roc-2 wells. The Roc-2 well also tested the deliverability of the reservoir through a well test that achieved around 55 million scf/day of gas and an associated condensate rate of 3,000 barrels per day. The Dorado-1 well, being up-dip of the Roc discoveries, enhances the overall chance of success of this prospect.

The Dorado structure at the Caley interval is estimated to contain a gross mean recoverable prospective resource of 545 Bscf of gas and 30 million barrels of associated condensate (being 125 million barrels of oil equivalent (“boe”), gross, Pmean). Multiple secondary targets have been identified by Carnarvon in the Crispin and Milne members and these will also be assessed by the Dorado-1 exploration well.

The Dorado structure is clearly defined on3-D seismic. The shale-filled canyon (the Dorado Canyon) which has incised into the Caley and Milne sediments, creates a large trap geometry in the target levels, bounded to the west, south and east. Similar shale-filled canyon trap geometries have proven very effective in a number of gas fields in the Gippsland Basin in Victoria.

The Dorado prospect is considered by Carnarvon as a probable gas prospect, with significant associated condensate, based on the results at Roc and Phoenix South. However, it should be noted that there is the Dorado-1 well update possibility for this structure to contain a substantial oil accumulation. This is due to the known presence of oilprone source-rocks in the section at Roc, and the possibility that gas at Roc has displaced the oil up dip into Dorado.