News of petroleum discovery in offshore Carnarvon Basin welcomed

17/5/99
Western Australia's petroleum industry has every reason to feel optimistic about the future, following yet another successful petroleum discovery in the offshore Carnarvon Basin that is likely to kick start a new development project.
Mines Minister Norman Moore has welcomed the news that Woodside Energy has discovered both oil and gas in its Enfield-1 well, located about 50km north-west of Exmouth in 544m of water.
Woodside is the operator and sole permit owner of the WA 271-P exploration permit.
"Although the size of Enfield is yet to be determined, preliminary estimates suggest that the field may contain up to 80 million barrels of oil," Mr Moore said.
"This is twice as much as the Vincent field, which is located in the same permit and was discovered earlier this year.
"The Enfield-1 well produced 4,800 barrels of 22 degrees gravity oil per day with some associated gas."
Mr Moore also said that while the Enfield discovery was important in its own right, when coupled with other discoveries in its vicinity, it was another run on the board for this encouraging new play in the southern part of the basin.
"The Enfield and Vincent discoveries are likely to provide sufficient critical mass to kick start a new development field project, as well as further drilling in the area," he said.
Mr Moore said that, although further work was necessary to fully evaluate the discovery, the announcement provided additional testimony to Western Australia's prospectively and position as Australia's premier petroleum and gas producer.
Media contacts: Hartley Joynt on 9231 1444 or Tony Malkovic, Department of Minerals and Energy, 9222 3527.