The Dorado oil field was largest oil discovery made on Western Australia’s North West Shelf in three decades when it was discovered in 2018. 

Uncovered as part of the greater Phoenix exploration campaign in the Bedout sub-basin, Dorado is an in important development in Australia’s energy landscape, estimated to hold about 162 million barrels of light oil and condensate, on a gross 2C basis. 

Combined with the estimated gross 748 billion cubic feet of 2C contingent gas resource, Dorado has been assessed to hold a gross 2C contingent resource of 344 million barrels of oil equivalent. 

A successful appraisal program in 2019 de-risked the Dorado development, which is currently in the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase. 

The current field development envisages the oil and condensate from Dorado being produced through a well-head platform and tied back to a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel capable of processing 75,000 to 100,000 barrels per day. 

Carnarvon holds a 10% interest in the Dorado discovery, with operator Santos Ltd holding 80% and CPC the remaining 10% equity.