Murrippi-1 spudded on 21 February 2008 at 04:00 hrs (CST) and reached a total depth of 2240m at 14:30hrs (CST) on 6 March 2008. Murrippi-1 tested dual Jurassic and Permian targets exhibiting four-way dip closure.
There were no hydrocarbon shows in the Jurassic (basal Birkhead Formation/Hutton Sandstone) objectives providing further evidence that the Jurassic oil trend lies further to the west, on-trend with the Callawonga Oilfield.
The Patchawarra Formation was intersected at 2057m. Several zones had fluorescence and two were tested upon penetration by drillstem tests. Moveable oil was recovered from two separate zones within the Patchawarra formation. It is believed that the high water saturations and apparent pressure depletion will render any attempted production from these zones uneconomical.
The Murrippi-1 well with its recovery of oil from the Permian Patchawarra Formation has confirmed the continuation across PEL91 of the ‘oil fairway’ between the Christies, Sellicks, Callawonga and Parsons oil discoveries to the southwest and the Growler and Wirraway oil discoveries to the northeast.
Murrippi-1 was the second of two commitment wells that were drilled by the joint venture in PEL91. The first well, Ballaparudda-1 was drilled in December 2007 and it encountered hydrocarbon shows in the Murta and Birkhead formations. Both wells were located using 2D seismic data.
In spite of the decision to plug and abandon Murrippi-1, Great Artesian is encouraged by the information gained from the well and the positive indications for further exploration in PEL91.
