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Bill McConnell
Independent reservoir engineering work has provided H3 Energy with greater confidence that its long-debated Warro gas field in the North Perth Basin could still contain some proper lungs.
The company said a reinterpretation of production logging tests in Warro 3 and Warro 6 indicates multiple intervals flowed gas only, and that there is no technical reason those zones could not deliver enhanced, possibly commercial, gas rates if completions are optimally positioned within the reservoir.
The work was completed by Molyneux Advisors, an engineering group with experience in the North Perth Basin, and forms part of H3’s broader re-evaluation of Warro’s legacy dataset.
According to the engineering review, the production logging data is consistent with a substantial gas column, with some intervals producing gas only and others producing gas and water. H3 said the interpretation also supports earlier work by independent petrophysicist Steve Adams that highlighted pay zones and the likely plumbing behind the field’s variable water performance.
The re-evaluation rests on a simple premise: water did the damage last time, not the gas. H3 has previously pointed to discrete fault-related water conduits rather than pervasive natural fracturing as the culprit, suggesting water management could be tackled by isolating a limited number of problem zones and applying modern completion practices.
‘… We now have a much clearer understanding of the asset and are ready to move into the planning phase for extraction.’
H3 Energy chief executive officer Nik Sykiotis
That technical thread has only tightened in recent months. In early February, an updated Warro 3 image log interpretation identified eleven dry gas-bearing zones as re-testing targets, ranging from nine metres to almost 25 metres thick. It also suggested many of the intervals are likely to be large, laterally extensive sand bodies persisting for several kilometres.
Today’s engineering conclusions add the commercial ‘how’ to that geological ‘where’. H3 said modern horizontal drilling and reservoir stimulation techniques are likely to be required, while existing wellbores are expected to be reused where practical.
H3 says the latest study wraps up phase one of its Warro review, pinpointing past shortcomings and the most prospective intervals. Phase two will shift to targeted drilling and reservoir engineering to properly test the project’s commercial potential.
H3 Energy chief executive officer Nik Sykiotis said: “In just a few months, we have completed a substantial body of high-impact technical work. Taken together, these studies demonstrate that there is no fundamental flaw with the Warro reservoirs. We now have a much clearer understanding of the asset and are ready to move into the planning phase for extraction.”
Warro sits on about 7,000 hectares and is about 30 kilometres from the Dampier-to-Bunbury natural gas pipeline, giving it a handy proximity advantage. Previous operators invested more than $100 million on 3D seismic and drilling four vertical wells, which delivered 1–2 million standard cubic feet per day flows to surface despite limited stimulation and a high water cut.
H3’s broader portfolio still includes exposure to natural hydrogen and helium in South Australia’s Officer Basin. The company recently reported elevated hydrogen readings of 25–30 parts per million at selected soil sensor sites over its Rickerscote prospect, alongside a transient methane spike and elevated helium at a nearby water bore.
For now, Warro remains the nearer-term focus — a project with clear challenges, but one that could quickly emerge as a standout if engineering solutions successfully tame the gas and water dynamics.
If H3 can translate its sharpened geological model and modern completion strategy into cleaner, higher-rate gas flows, Warro may yet shift from a long-running debate to a practical supply solution in the North Perth Basin.
With infrastructure close by and a defined appraisal plan locked in, the next round of drilling will be less about theory and more about proving the field’s commercial heartbeat.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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