Tap Oil provides Australian well exploration update

Tap Oil has told oil industry investors it has experienced some difficulties at one of its offshore exploration sites in Carnarvon Basin, Australia.

The Perth-based independent oil & gas exploration and production company is currently drilling at the Zola-1 well, located just south of the Gorgon gas field, under the terms of the WA-290-P permit.

It estimates the well contains at least one trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas.

Drilling at the site only recently resumed after a break for a cyclone, but it has now been delayed again by a stuck drill pipe.

It has proved impossible to recover all the drill pipe and Tap Oil's engineers have now had to rethink their plans.

They have decided to sidetrack the original well from a depth of 4,203m and drill down to around 5,000m to evaluate the gas-bearing reservoirs already discovered.

Tap Oil recently announced it had exercised its right to acquire an additional 20 per cent interest in another exploration site in Carnarvon Basin from Roc Oil, taking its stake in WA-351-P permit to 45 per cent.