Omega Oil and Gas (ASX:OMA) is planning wireline logging at Canyon North-1, then drilling Canyon North-2 in the December quarter, after reaching 4,700m.
The well is the deepest drilled in Queensland. It reached total depth (TD) in basement, using H&P FlexRig 648. The well recorded the highest gas shows the company has seen to date.
Gas flowed into the wellbore while drilling the unstimulated Muggleton Formation. Crews separated it from the drilling fluid at surface and flared it in a controlled manner.
The company stresses the flare is a drilling observation only, and no flow rates have been measured.
The ATP 2081 Joint Venture, comprising Omega (45% and operator), Tri-Star (30%), and Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) (25%), drilled beyond the planned depth of about 4,000m to fully penetrate the Muggleton.
The decision followed encouraging Muggleton results at the 100%-owned Canyon-4 well in PCA 342, and ‘high gas’ shows deeper in the well.
‘High gas’ shows also appeared in the Lower Kianga Formation and Canyon Sandstone. Pressures confirm a highly over-pressured reservoir, consistent with Canyon-1H data.
Crews are now preparing the well for a wireline suite across the Permian sequence. If gas levels cannot be reduced, the company will plug the lower section, isolate the Muggleton, and log the other five regionally extensive reservoir levels.
CEO Trevor Brown says the result supports the company’s view of the basin.
“Gas influx at these levels from unstimulated rock, in a well this deep and this over-pressured, strengthens our conviction that the Taroom Trough hosts a very large, regionally extensive petroleum system,” Brown states.
Core analysis feeds into geological assessments across the December 2026 and March 2027 quarters, with an upgraded resource assessment targeted for the March quarter.
Omega then plans one or potentially two horizontal appraisal wells with laterals up to 2,000m. Flow testing in H1 2027 is subject to well results and joint venture approval.
Omega Oil and Gas is an Australian explorer and producer targeting oil and gas resources in Queensland’s emerging Taroom Trough.
Write to JC Villarba at Mining.com.au
Images: Omega Oil and Gas
