CO2CRC’s Otway Research Facility was humming with activity throughout March and April as a rig was brought in to drill a new $7.5 million well. The drilling program ran 24 hours a day with crews working 12 hour shifts. An onsite rig camp provided accommodation and sustenance to over 40 highly skilled rig workers. In addition to this were a number of operations support staff who worked at the site daily and stayed in hotels in the area, further benefiting the local community.
The new well is the first step in a $45 million research program aimed at reducing the cost of carbon capture and storage through targeted subsurface monitoring techniques.