Beach Energy has moved into the second stage of its Otway Basin drilling program offshore Australia, using Transocean Equinox after completing the first phase of work in the same basin.
The rig was received from a consortium member after the quarter ended, and the new campaign began in early April. Current work involves intervention at Thylacine West, which is expected to take around three weeks. The program will later finish with plug and abandonment work on Trefoil 1 and Yolla 1.
In the Cooper Basin Western Flank, Beach Energy continued its 12-well oil exploration, appraisal and development program. During the quarter, one exploration well and two appraisal wells were drilled before heavy rainfall disrupted road access from mid-February.
The campaign resumed in mid-April once access was restored. Stunsail West 1 reached 2,019 m and found oil in the Namur, McKinlay and Birkhead reservoirs. The Namur oil-water contact matched the nearby Stunsail field, about 1 km west, indicating a continuous oil accumulation between the fields.
Kangaroo 5 targeted the Birkhead reservoir around 700 m north of Kangaroo 1 and found 1.5 m of net oil pay. The well is confirmed to communicate with the nearby producing well, and it will be fracture-stimulated before completion as a water injection well.
Kangaroo 6 also targeted the Birkhead reservoir and encountered 7 m of net oil pay. It has been cased and suspended, with completion and connection planned for Q4 FY26.
Weather delays mean four of the six remaining wells are expected to be drilled in FY26, while the final two are set for FY27, followed by an oil exploration campaign.
Beach Energy and Santos have also secured ATP 2078, ATP 2079 and ATP 2080 in south-west Queensland. The three blocks cover about 7,000 km². The joint venture plans new seismic surveys from FY27, with potential exploration drilling in FY28.
