Santos said August 8 the Barikewa-3 well, located in Papua New Guinea’s onshore Forelands region, intersected 25 m (82 ft) of net gas pay within the Toro and Hedinia reservoir objectives.

Reservoir quality exceeded pre-drill expectations and the appraisal well successfully intersected a gas-water contact in the Hedinia.

A drill-stem test was carried out across the Toro interval at 1,729 m (5,672 ft) to 1,743 m (5,718 ft) and flowed gas to surface at 35 million standard cubic feet of gas per day on a 68/64-inch choke. On-site analysis of the gas from the drill-stem test and earlier wireline sampling confirms a dry gas with approximately 20% nitrogen and very low levels of other impurities, in line with pre-drill expectations.

The well, in petroleum permit PRL9, reached total depth of 1,943 m (6,374 ft) in July and will be plugged and abandoned as planned upon completion of the test and data retrieval.

“The Barikewa-3 result is encouraging and confirms that there are significant natural gas resources close to PNG LNG infrastructure still to be developed,” Kevin Gallagher, Santos’ managing director and CEO, said.

Santos, through its wholly owned subsidiary Barracuda Ltd., holds a 40% interest in the PRL9 joint venture, operated by Oil Search.