MEO told the market today that results from the drilling, log and core sample interpretation of the Darwin formation indicated that the entire 50m section, over a depth of 3109-3159m, in facies C was saturated with wet gas.

Porosity of this section was thought to range from 5- 12%, with the Sonic Scanner identifying four major open fracture sets, while multiple open second fractures were noted in the side-wall core samples.

“The results correlate closely to the Heron-1 well, 2.7 kilometres away, providing confidence in potential reservoir continuity,” MEO said.

“Correlation with the inversion data obtained from the 3D seismic data provides further confidence in predicting reservoir continuity.

“The modern logging suite obtained in Heron-2 confirmed the porosity and permeability assumptions used in MEO’s previous contingent resource calculations.”

Production testing of the Epenarra formation will determine gas quality and reservoir productivity, confirming whether a recoverable resource is present.

This zone will be tested when the underlying Heron North Elang-Plover target reservoir has been drilled and possibly production tested.

This morning, the West Atlas jack-up rig was drilling the 8½-inch hole through the lower sections of the Flamingo formation, which is immediately above the Heron North Elang-Plover objective.

Following Heron-2, the rig will move to the Heron-3 well, aimed at testing the commercial viability of hydrocarbons in a 500m horizontal section through the Darwin Formation, the reservoir section of the large Epenarra structure.

The Heron-2 and Heron-3 wells are targeting the two gas-bearing horizons in the Darwin formation and the deeper Elang-Plover Formation, observed in the Heron-1 well.

The two-well campaign will be funded 75% by MEO and 25% by farminee Petrofac, in return for a 10% stake in the permit.

Petrofac has an option to increase this stake to 15% by funding 37.5% of the well costs.