Whitebark Energy chief executive officer Nik Sykiotis said: “This new interpretation is critical in improving our understanding of the Warro reservoir and in identifying areas where sustainable rates of dry gas could potentially flow.”
The timing of the study could hardly be better. Western Australia’s wholesale gas prices have more than doubled since 2020, increasing the need for new long-term gas supply to help ease pressure on the domestic market.
Originally drilled in 1977 by WAPET – a joint venture established in 1952 between Caltex and Ampol – the pair spent more than $100 million on seismic and drilling to define a major gas discovery, intersecting a huge 390-metre gas column. Flow tests later produced 1 to 2 million cubic feet of gas per day, despite limited stimulation and high water levels.
Although operations were suspended, the field was later estimated to contain a whopping 4.4 to 11.6 trillion cubic feet of gas, making it the largest onshore gas resource in Western Australia.
Sitting 200 kilometres north of Perth and just 30 kilometres from the Dampier-to-Bunbury pipeline, the project has a significant location advantage and a fast path to the state’s gas market if a new development program confirms these latest findings.
With the reinterpretation in hand, Whitebark says it has already moved to the next phase, launching a detailed engineering review to design an appropriate re-entry and testing program.
For a project once left for dead, Warro is suddenly back in play – and this time, the data appears to be firmly on Whitebark’s side.
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