Carnarvon Petroleum Limited (Carnarvon) reported that gas and indications of associated liquid hydrocarbons were observed in the Phoenix South-1 well in permit WA-435-P on the North West Shelf offshore Western Australia prior to a drill bit failure, which has necessitated the drilling of a minor side-track around a small portion of the well bore.

In the past two weeks Apache Energy, the Operator of the Phoenix South-1 well, had drilled to a depth of 14,176 feet (4,321 meters) Measured Depth (MD) and, as at 06:00 hours this morning, the well was preparing to side-track at around 13,123 feet (4,000 meters) MD to complete the drilling to the expected Total Depth (TD) of 14,763 feet (4,500 meters).

Tags: Carnarvon Petroleum Limited