The Barlee No. 1 Well was drilled with WAPET's National 100 rig to the total depth of 8101 feet.
Below a thin cover of the surface sand, 1562 feet of Mesozoic sediments were encountered, and drilled to the depth of 1594 feet. These sediments are represented by the Broome Sandstone (Lower Cretaceous) and Jurassic rocks, consisting of Jarlemai Siltstone, Alexander Formation, and Wallal Sandstone. The Jarlemai Siltstone interval which is 850 feet thick, is the thickest section of this formation which has been drilled in the Canning Basin.
Unconformably below Mesozoic sediments, a uniform section of Carboniferous rocks was encountered and drilled to the total depth. All 6507 feet of the Carboniferous section are included in the Anderson Formation, to which an Upper Carboniferous age is tentatively assigned. In the lower part of the formation (7825 - 7856 feet) an intrusive body of dolerite was encountered. Some induration was observed in rocks adjacent to the intrusion. The well was abandoned in moderately porous sandstone beds of the Anderson Formation.
Average dips of 20 degrees were observed in cores and recorded by the dipmeter survey in the Carboniferous section. The dipmeter survey shows that the well was located on the northern flank of the Barlee Anticline.
Some very slight shows of gas were present in the sandstone beds of the Anderson Formation. Below 5600 feet some sandstone beds contained impregnations of black, rubbery bituminous material - very probably oil residue. No signs of live oil were observed in the well.
The drilling results indicate that the Barlee No. 1 Well (like Fraser River No. 1) is located in the deep Fitzroy Trough on a structure originated by an igneous intrusion. The prospective beds of Ordovician, Devonian, and Lower Carboniferous rocks are buried under the thick cover of the unprospective Upper Carboniferous sediments and probably are intruded by igneous rocks.
It seems likely that the sediments of the Fitzroy Trough in the Barlee area extend south as far as the Darnpier Fault; thus the Dampier Fault in the western part of the Canning Basin may replace the Fenton Fault, which dies out before reaching the Dampier Land area. The concept of the Jurgurra Terrace still remains valid, but only for the eastern part as shown on Plate .No. 1.
