Origin Energy, on behalf of the T/18P Joint Venture, advises that as at 06:00 hours EDT on Thursday 7 January 2010 the current operation at Rockhopper 1 is preparing to sidetrack the Rockhopper 1 well. Since the last report wireline logging operations have been completed and the well plugged below the kick-off point.

The sidetrack is designed to appraise the hydrocarbons encountered to date by intersecting the main reservoir sections approximately 1.3 kilometres south and down-dip from their penetration in Rockhopper 1, to assist in assessing the volume of oil and gas discovered in Rockhopper 1. It is anticipated that the sidetrack will take approximately 2 weeks to reach the primary reservoir section and a further 2 weeks to complete data acquisition and plugging and abandoning of the sidetrack and Rockhopper 1.

Tags: Origin Energy