Key Highlights

  • Willowie 2 reached a total depth of 2,687 metres and log evaluation showed only thin intervals of low-deliverability gas, with no conventional pay interpreted.
  • Santos recommended plugging and abandonment and Red Sky endorsed it, so stimulation, completion and tie-in costs will not be incurred.
  • The company said the result has no bearing on the Yarrow field, where Yarrow 1 and Yarrow 3 continue to produce.

Red Sky Energy Limited (ASX:ROG) announced that the Willowie 2 appraisal well in the Innamincka Dome, Cooper Basin, South Australia, did not find conventional pay and will be plugged and abandoned. The well is in PRL 18 and is operated by Santos, which holds an 80 per cent working interest, with Red Sky holding the remaining 20 per cent.

What the well found

Willowie 2 was spudded on 19 October 2026 and reached a total depth of 2,687 metres measured depth on 25 October 2026, on schedule. The primary targets were Permian sandstones, namely the Toolachee, Patchawarra and Tirrawarra formations. The well drilled through to the Merrimelia Formation and Pre-Permian basement, and an open-hole wireline logging suite was run across the Permian section.

According to the company, log evaluation shows only thin intervals of low-deliverability gas in the Toolachee and Patchawarra formations. The reservoirs have low porosity and a high proportion of organic-rich shale. The tight Tirrawarra Sandstone showed residual oil fluorescence. The company said no conventional pay was interpreted in any formation.

A wireline pressure survey in the Tirrawarra on 27 October 2026 failed to obtain valid pressures or mobilities, and the remaining planned test points were not run. No drill stem test, flow test or stimulation was carried out, and no hydrocarbons or formation water reached the surface. The announcement does not include any reserves or resources estimate.

The decision to abandon

Red Sky said the well does not meet the operator's minimum requirement to be cased and suspended as a future producer. Santos recommended plugging and abandonment, and Red Sky endorsed that recommendation. As a consequence, the stimulation, completion and tie-in costs contained in the Willowie 2 authority for expenditure will not be incurred. The drilling rig, Rig 184, will be released after abandonment operations are finished.

This is an appraisal outcome rather than a development decision. Because the well was never cased and suspended, it will not be connected to the Moomba-linked gathering system, and the company did not describe any residual value in the wellbore. The announcement does not quantify the cost already incurred by Red Sky on its 20 per cent share.

Other Red Sky assets

The company stated that the Willowie 2 result has no bearing on the Yarrow field. Yarrow 1 and Yarrow 3 continue to produce, while Yarrow 4 and Yarrow 5 remain cased and suspended, awaiting stimulation. The announcement does not give dates for that stimulation work or production rates from the producing wells.

Red Sky holds a 20 per cent interest across six petroleum retention licences in the Santos-operated Innamincka Dome Joint Venture, namely PRL 14, 17, 18, 180, 181 and 182. The company noted that Santos operates existing gas-gathering, pipeline and processing infrastructure connected to the Moomba facility, which it said reduces development costs and time to first production for discoveries in the area. Willowie 2 will not add to that production base.

What happens next

The immediate step is the plugging and abandonment of Willowie 2 and the release of the rig. Red Sky said it will update the market as further operational milestones are reached, but it did not provide specific dates. The announcement did not schedule any further activity on the Yarrow 4 and Yarrow 5 stimulation programme or across the other Innamincka Dome licences, so the timing of the next operational steps remains unconfirmed. Wireline logs and a failed pressure survey are the only data reported, which is why the announcement gives no resource figures or flow rates for Willowie 2. Any decision on further appraisal in the licence area would rest with the joint venture.