Overview of the 2027 Bedout Sub-Basin Campaign

Santos and its co-venturer Carnarvon Energy are planning a 2027 exploration campaign in the Bedout sub-basin offshore Western Australia, having secured a drilling rig. Santos’ chief operating officer Brett Darley described the area as "the next North West Shelf," noting that nearly a billion barrels of risk prospective resource already exist there, with only the surface scratched so far.

Drilling Rig and Campaign Details

The partners have contracted Transocean’s semi-submersible rig, the Transocean Equinox, for a multi-well campaign. The rig was selected after a comprehensive bid evaluation process starting in early 2025. It is currently performing multi-well exploration drilling off Victoria, Australia, expected to be completed by early 2026. The contract includes one firm plus one contingent well on blocks where Carnarvon has a stake. If both wells are drilled, Carnarvon’s costs are estimated at approximately A$20 million (US$14.26 million), reflecting its 10% equity in block WA-435-P and 20% in WA-436-P.

Santos’ Exploration Plans

Santos has three exploration wells planned for 2027, targeting integrated oil and gas prospects in the northern part of the Bedout sub-basin to prove scale potential. This area includes the undeveloped Dorado oil and gas discovery, for which Santos has had its Phase 1 offshore project proposal (including a tie-back of the Pavo find) approved and a production licence awarded. The current plan for Dorado is to first exploit its oil—the Dorado-3 appraisal well tested at 11,000 barrels per day—with gas potentially extracted in the future. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher stated that Dorado is "FEED ready" and could re-enter a short FEED cycle, but the company will appraise the Bedout basin in 2027 with three wells. Darley added that these wells will inform a greater development opportunity, and the company is "very, very eager to see the results."

Carnarvon’s Prospects and Confidence

The 2027 campaign, scheduled to start in April, will target some of the largest prospects in Carnarvon’s portfolio. Shortlisted prospects include Ara on block WA-435-P, and Goats Eye, Yuma, and Hutton on WA-436-P, all defined on the Bedout MegaMerge 3D seismic survey. Carnarvon CEO Philip Huizenga expressed confidence, citing a 67% success rate when drilling with high-quality 3D seismic data, and expects to continue opening up the world-class Bedout sub-basin with extensions to the north of previous finds and in new, previously untested play types.