"The Barikewa-3 result is encouraging and confirms that there are significant natural gas resources close to PNG LNG infrastructure still to be developed," Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher said.
"Barikewa is about 10km from the PNG LNG gas pipeline and is therefore well placed to play a part in future LNG expansion projects," he added.
Santos on Wednesday said Barikewa-3 well intersected 25m of net gas pay within the Toro and Hedinia reservoir objectives.
Reservoir quality exceeded pre-drill expectations and the appraisal well intersected a gas-water contact in the Hedinia.
A drill-stem test was carried out across the Toro interval at 1729 to 1743m and flowed gas to surface at 35 million standard cubic feet of gas per day on a 68/64" choke.
On-site analysis of the gas from the drill-stem test and earlier wireline sampling confirms a dry gas with about 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 1943m on July 15 and will be plugged and abandoned as planned upon completion of the test and data retrieval.
Santos, through its wholly owned subsidiary Barracuda, holds a 40% interest in the PRL9 joint venture, operated by Oil Search.
