Sue No. 1 Well was located in the southern Perth Basin, Western Australia, about 150 miles South-south-west of Perth and sixteen miles east of the town of Margaret River. The well was drilled by Oil Drilling and Exploration Limited for West Australian Petroleum Pty Limited, to total depth of 10,097 feet. Drilling commenced on 31st January, 1986 and was completed on 5th March, 1966. A full programme of coring and logging was undertaken; no drillstem testing was conducted.
The well penetrated sediments equated to the Lower Cretaceous - Upper Jurassic Yarragadee Formationfrom surface to 3730 feet, and then entered Permian sandstones. Formation affinities have not yet baen definitely established, but these sediments may be correlatable with parts of the Permian section in the Collie Basin, an outlier in the Precambrian Shield to the north-east.
The Permian rocks, 6291 feet thick in Sue No. I, are salt-water bearing (average 20,000 ppm. NaCl). Small gas shows of methane were associated with carbonaceous sections. An igneous intrusive body, 22 feet thick, of dolerite was intersected at 9390 feet. A small gas show of methane and ethane was recorded immediately below these rocks, and traces of fluorescence Were noted in the underlying sandstones. However, the rocks in which these shows occurred were tight and impermeable.
A thin, basal conglomerate was intersected before drilling into Precambrian basement at 10,021 feet. The well reached total depth at 10,097 feet in these matamorphic rocks.
Sue No. 1 was drilled near the crest of an anticline, located by seismic surveys carried out in 1964-1965. The well was programmed to test the stratigraphy and hydrocarbon bearing potential of the Mesozoic and Palaeozolc sediments in this little-known area, near the western margin of the southern Perth Basin, in a graben bounded by major faults to the west and east. Only minor shows of gas were recorded while drilling Sue No. I, and the well was plugged and abandoned.
The stratigraphic drilling operation at Sue No. 1 was subsidized under the Petroleum Search Subsidy Act 1959-1964, from surface to total depth.
