Carnarvon Energy (ASX:CVN) Bedout barrel bonanza

Having already made several plays opening discoveries in Western Australia’s offshore Bedout sub-basin, Carnarvon Energy ASX:CVN) has unveiled its top 20 exploration prospects in the basin, with the potential to unlock a further 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

The Perth-based energy exploration and development company made a string of successful discoveries in the basin over the last decade, with the Roc, Phoenix South, Dorado, and Pavo finds.

The 2018 Dorado discovery marked the most significant oil find on WA’s North West Shelf in 30 years, independently assessed to contain a gross 344 million boe in best estimate contingent resources.
This was followed up with the nearby Pavo oil discovery in 2022, estimated to hold a further 45 million boe of best-estimated contingent resources and could be developed through a low-cost tie-back to Dorado.

Unlocking the Bedout

Carnarvon CEO Adrian Cook explains these recent finds have only scratched the surface, with the Company’s Bedout sub-basin acreage containing multiple perspectives, but still untested, play fairways.

“We have identified more than 100 prospects across our four Bedout sub-basin permits, which we hold in a joint venture partnership with operator Santos Ltd,” he says.

“We have assessed the top five prospects in each of these permits to hold a combined mean prospective resource of over 1.5 billion boe, and with more than 80 other prospects in our portfolio there’s plenty of running room left in the basin.”

Carnarvon has equity over most of the Bedout sub-basin.

Given the Company’s drilling success rate of nearly 70% in the basin, Cook is confident further drilling will add to Carnarvon’s already extensive resource base in the Bedout.

“Several prospects are now being high-graded for potential near-term drilling campaigns,” he adds.

“Discussions are ongoing with our partner to determine where we focus our drilling, and we look forward to sharing those plans as they unfold.”

Top Prospects

Those plans could include proving up the low-risk Pavo South accumulation, adjacent to this year’s successful Pavo discovery well.

A find at Pavo South could add a further 67.9 million boe of mean prospective resources. It would derisk several other nearby prospects, such as Torin, which is estimated to hold gross mean future resources totalling 60.7 million boe.

Another near-term drilling candidate is Ara, a potential 202.4 million boe gas prospect in WA-435-P, estimated to hold nearly 600 billion cubic feet of gas, along with 100 million barrels of associated condensate.

A discovery at Ara would derisk other nearby prospects with the potential to hold several trillion cubic feet in aggregate gas resources. This would also provide further confidence for Dorado’s gas-focused second development phase.

Dorado Development

Front-end engineering and design for the proposed Dorado field development is complete, and the project is ready for a final investment decision.

The Phase 1 field development plan envisages production from a wellhead platform connected to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with a design capacity to process 100,000 barrels of oil per day.

Pre-development work has also commenced for the Pavo discovery, which could be tied back and developed through the Dorado infrastructure.

Development at Dorado is the first step in unlocking the full potential of the Bedout sub-basin, with the 1.5 billion boe potential of the top 20 exploration prospects showing there is lots more to explore.

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