Chevron discovery reveals value of lucrative Australia

Chevron Oil Discovery

A new gas discovery by Chevron Corporation off the coast of Western Australia reveals just how valuable the region could be. The company recently announced an additional natural gas discovery in the Greater Gorgon area's Carnarvon Basin, Australia's premier offshore hydrocarbon zone.

The Achilles-1 exploration well, located around 160km offshore, was drilled to a depth of 4,500 meters, tapping into approximately 100 meters of net gas pay.

"The well spudded on 23 July and was drilled to 4,500 metres, encountering approximately 100 metres of net gas pay in five Triassic Mungaroo sands," Chevron said.

The oil and gas giant have good reason to be excited over the region as they are the dominant force in the area, "This discovery is located in a highly prospective area where Chevron is the leading leaseholder, and it adds to our recent exploration successes," said George Kirkland, Chevron's executive vice president, Global Upstream and Gas.

"The discovery will also build on the supply that underpins the projected 40-year life of the Gorgon project," he added.

The region off the northwest coast of Australia is attracting more and more interest from the world's largest gas companies, and this latest discovery further underlines the potential for the area and also serves to support Chevron's projected 40-year life-span of its Gorgon project.

The US$37 billion Gorgon LNG development, Australia's biggest yet natural resources project, is estimated to have about 40 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Jim Blackwell, president of Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production, said that offshore northwest Australia remains one of the company's focus areas for global exploration. "As we expand our Australia natural gas business, additional discoveries in the most prospective areas in the region will be expected to be tied into facilities already under construction or being planned," said Blackwell.

The Achilles-1 well is located in the WA-374-P permit area in the Greater Gorgon region. Chevron Australia is the operator of WA-374-P with 50 percent interest, while Shell Development (Australia) and ExxonMobil Australia each hold 25 percent. Chevron is currently spudding an additional exploration well (Satyr-1) in the permit area.

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