Triangle poised for drilling in WA onshore oil-gas search

Triangle Energy Global’s hunt for onshore oil and gas at its Booth prospect in the Western Australia’s North Perth Basin has stepped up a gear, with spudding of its Booth-1 well anticipated at the end of this month and drilling expected to begin in about 10 days.

The company is targeting a vast 279 billion cubic feet (Bcf) resource at Booth. The prospect lies in the east of the “L7” tenure operated by Triangle as part of a joint venture (JV) with fellow ASX-listed companies Strike Energy and New Zealand Oil & Gas. According to management, the L7 acreage hasn’t seen any drilling for about 30 years and represents one of the last underexplored landholdings in the mighty North Perth Basin.

Triangle noted that the Ventia 106 rig is currently mobilising to site ahead of the highly-anticipated drilling campaign. The Booth-1 well will target gas in the Kingia-High Cliff reservoirs and also has potential for hosting oil and gas in the overlying Dongara and Cattamarra Coal Measures sandstones.

Drilling is expected to last about three weeks, with a total measured depth prognosed at about 2900m. The well will deviate 800m to the south-east from the surface location to intersect the three prospective reservoirs.

A prospective resource range of between 113 Bcf and 540 Bcf of gas has been assessed at Booth, including a best estimate pointing to the hefty 279 Bcf.

Separately, the company has also launched discussions to secure a rig for drilling of the nearby Becos prospect on its “EP437” tenure that adjoins the L7 landholding. A best estimate of 5 million barrels (MMbbl) of oil has been identified at Becos.

Triangle Energy Global managing director Conrad Todd said: “Receipt of the Ventia 106 rig is an important milestone for Triangle, putting us on track to spud the eagerly awaited Booth-1 well in the next two weeks. This will be the first well drilled in our permits for 30 years.”

Todd said drilling at both Booth and Becos would represent the company’s first testing of many targets identified using new 3D seismic data acquired over the permits.

Including Booth, the L7 tenure hosts a prospective resource range of between 205 Bcf and 1084 Bcf of gas across four prospects, with a best estimate of 535 Bcf. L7 has also been estimated to contain a prospective oil resource of between 18 MMbbl and 72 MMbbl from a swathe of targets.

Management noted that ASX-listed mining and energy titan, Mineral Resources, recently discovered a significant amount of oil to the south of L7 in the same Donagara Sandstone being targeted at Booth.

At EP437, a best estimate totalling 7 MMbbl of oil from the Becos and Wye Knot prospects has also been identified by Triangle. The company owns a 50 per cent interest in each of the L7 and EP437 permits.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) recently concluded that WA’s domestic gas market could be headed for a deficit through to 2029, with potential supply projected to be as much as 11 per cent below forecast demand.

With gas accounting for between 30 per cent and 45 per cent of WA’s power, any new discoveries could be instrumental to the State’s energy market. And Triangle could be in the fast lane to shoring up supply if the upcoming drilling at Booth delivers the goods.

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