Omega Oil & Gas’ Canyon-3 well in the eastern Taroom Trough in Queensland, Australia, has encountered significant oil and gas-bearing intervals.
According to the company, the result indicates the potential for a large-scale hydrocarbon province in the region.
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The Canyon-3 well, part of Omega Oil & Gas’ 2026/27 appraisal programme, was drilled to a total depth of 3,792.6m.
Surface and wireline logging data collected from the well indicated a 526m-thick Permian interval that contains oil and gas, with a total of 170m of aggregate net pay identified.
The Australian exploration company said that the well was drilled roughly 9km south-east and 275m up-dip of the earlier Canyon-1 well. It targeted reservoir intervals including the Canyon Sandstone and hydrocarbon distribution further east.
Analysis of the primary target, the Canyon Sandstone, indicated 18m of net oil-bearing sands at an average porosity of 11.5% within a 42m gross reservoir interval.
These characteristics reflect a 14% increase in thickness and a 55% improvement in porosity compared with Canyon-1, which previously encountered a 37m-thick gross interval with 12m of net pay at 7.4% average porosity.
Additionally, the Lower Kianga reservoir above the Canyon Sandstone in Canyon-3 showed improved properties compared to previous wells.
Results from Canyon-3 build upon findings from Canyon-1/1H, where a highly over-pressured Canyon Sandstone zone was encountered. That zone yielded a normalised production rate of 987 barrels of oil per day and 1.45 million standard cubic feet per day of gas in a 2,000m horizontal well.
Omega Oil & Gas plans to integrate Canyon-3 data with previous well and seismic information to further assess the reservoir’s scale, fluid distribution and possible commercial flow rates.
Drilling of Canyon-4 is expected to commence within a week following relocation of the rig.
The company stated that it is fully funded for the continued appraisal programme, which will include both vertical and eventual horizontal wells, along with flow testing.
Omega Oil & Gas CEO and managing director Trevor Brown said: “These excellent Canyon-3 well results are a major step towards demonstrating the scale of the oil and gas resources in the eastern Taroom Trough. The first well in our programme was drilled safely and efficiently with the high-quality results exceeding our pre-drill expectations.
“We saw thicker and better reservoirs in Canyon-3 compared to previous wells and proved continuity of the geology in target reservoirs, further confirming our geological model. It is particularly pleasing to see upside in the Canyon Sandstone, which has already demonstrated flow from the Canyon-1H well.
“The Canyon-3 well has also highlighted the potential of an additional reservoir interval in the Lower Kianga, which adds to the five stacked, regionally extensive reservoirs that we map across our acreage. This additional reservoir target provides further optionality.”
