Key Highlights

  • Drilling has started at Canyon North-1, the third well in Omega's fully funded 2026/27 appraisal program and the first for the ATP 2081 Joint Venture, held 45% by Omega as operator, 30% by Tri-Star and 25% by Beach Energy.
  • Drilling began about seven months after ATP 2081 was awarded in March 2026, at a location roughly 6km from and 250m updip of the 2012 Tasmania-1 well.
  • Canyon-4 intersected a 589m gross oil and gas-bearing sequence with 197m of aggregate net pay, against 526m and 170m at Canyon-3 and 433m and 132m at Canyon-1.
  • Omega expects Canyon North-1 results in approximately four weeks, Canyon North-2 in the fourth quarter of 2026 and an upgraded resource assessment in the first quarter of 2027.

Omega Oil & Gas Limited (ASX:OMA) has started drilling Canyon North-1, the third well in its fully funded 2026/27 appraisal program in Queensland's Taroom Trough. The well is also the first for the ATP 2081 Joint Venture, in which Omega holds 45% and acts as operator, with Tri-Star holding 30% and Beach Energy 25%. Drilling is under way using the H&P FlexRig 648, and the company expects to release results in approximately four weeks. The well is designed to test how far the Canyon play extends north of Omega's existing PCA areas.

ATP 2081: A Seven-Month Path From Award to Rig

ATP 2081 was awarded to the Omega-led Joint Venture in March 2026 as part of a Queensland Government petroleum land release. Drilling has therefore begun roughly seven months after the award, a timeline the company described as rapid appraisal. Canyon North-1 is the first well the joint venture has drilled in the permit.

Omega's chief executive and managing director, Trevor Brown, said the company is drilling the well alongside its partners Tri-Star and Beach Energy. He said Canyon North-1 takes the campaign into ATP 2081 to test how far the play extends to the north, and that the well is positioned to provide further evidence of the regional scale of the oil and gas resources across Omega's eastern Taroom Trough acreage. Omega said it remains fully funded for the 2026/27 appraisal program and will provide updates as drilling and technical evaluation progress.

Canyon-4 Results Behind the New Well

Canyon North-1 follows the Canyon-3 and Canyon-4 wells in Omega's 100%-owned PCA 342. Canyon-4, reported on 12 October 2026, intersected a 589m gross oil and gas-bearing Permian sequence with 197m of aggregate net pay. Canyon-3 recorded 526m and 170m on the same measures, and Canyon-1 recorded 433m and 132m.

Average log porosity in the primary Canyon Sandstone target rose from 7.4% at Canyon-1 to 12.1% at Canyon-4. In the widespread Lower Kianga interval, it averaged 10.7% at Canyon-4 and 11% at Canyon-3. Porosity is the share of a rock's volume that can hold fluids, and log-derived figures are calculated from instruments run in the well. Omega said all of them will be calibrated to measured core porosities as results of ongoing core analysis are received over the coming months.

Brown said Canyon-4 delivered the thickest sequence, the most net pay and the highest reservoir quality of any Canyon well to date, and that continuity has now been demonstrated across the PCA acreage.

Offset Control and Objectives for Canyon North-1

Canyon North-1 is located approximately 6km from, and 250m updip of, the Tasmania-1 well, which was drilled in 2012. Updip means the new well sits higher on the geological structure than the older one. Tasmania-1 penetrated the same Permian reservoirs targeted by the Canyon wells and cored the Canyon Sandstone. Omega said the Canyon Sandstone shows continuous geology from the Canyon wells to Tasmania-1 and can be correlated a further approximately 40km northwest to Fantome-1.

The company plans to test the entire Permian sequence, including the Canyon Sandstone, the Lower Kianga and other reservoir intervals. The primary objective is to characterise reservoir quality and hydrocarbon phase, meaning whether the reservoir holds oil, gas or both, and to test the extension of the Permian reservoir system north of the PCA areas. Planned total measured depth is approximately 4,000m. The well will be drilled to total depth and logged with a wireline suite, and no conventional core will be taken because the Canyon Sandstone was cored in Tasmania-1.

Canyon North-1 and Canyon North-2 shift the program's focus to demonstrating scale. The two wells are designed to characterise reservoir and fluid properties across the central and northern shaded areas on the company's map, each covering approximately 400 square kilometres.

Taking Stock of the Drilling Schedule

Omega expects Canyon North-1 results in approximately four weeks, followed by Canyon North-2 in the fourth quarter of 2026. Core analysis results will be incorporated into geological assessments during the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, when an upgraded resource assessment is also targeted. After Canyon North-2, the company plans at least one and potentially two horizontal appraisal wells with laterals of up to 2,000m, with flow testing in the first half of 2027, subject to well results and Joint Venture approval. Omega Oil & Gas has described its 2026/27 appraisal program as fully funded.