26 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Day 25: ST-2 drilled 142 m to 1,242 m, building inclination to 22°. A wiper trip showed the hole in good condition. Plan is to build to 88° before casing and the horizontal section.
Announcements, explained
Each one in plain English, with the numbers worked through for a shareholder.
25 Aug 2025drilling progress report▲ GoodMajor
Drilling resumed 22 August as sidetrack ST-2 after Lakes and the contractor agreed added redundancy against mud circulation failures. Contractor accepted a fixed-price arrangement to finish the well. Now at 1,100 m, about 260 m above the Strzelecki target. Resolves the stoppage.
19 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Day 18 of Wombat-5 sidetrack: still at 470 m with no progress. Lakes has the drilling contractor's report, is reviewing it with its experts and is in discussions with the contractor. Outcome to be advised.
18 Aug 2025drilling progress report▼ Bad
Day 17: free drillstring recovered and cement plug set back to about 470 m. Mud circulation failed again on Saturday; a remedy is being stress-tested. Drilling resumes only if Lakes' review finds the rig fit for purpose. Well is still far above target.
15 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Re-lodgement of the 14 August update: assembly stuck at about 1,088 m after loss of mud suction, with retrieval and another cement plug planned. Same content, no new information.
14 Aug 2025drilling progress report▼ Bad
Day 13: mud pump suction was lost and the drilling assembly is stuck at about 1,088 m after jarring failed. The drillstring will be severed and retrieved, then another cement plug set to kick off around it. Insurance covers most of the lost string.
12 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Re-lodgement of the 11 August update: sidetrack ST-1 drilling at 1,078 m after a cement plug and wrong-direction kick-off. Same content, no new information.
11 Aug 2025drilling progress report▼ Bad
Day 10: failed directional tools kicked the well off in the wrong direction, so Lakes set a cement plug and sidetracked (ST-1) from 1,050 m. It is now drilling at 1,078 m on the intended path, with a setback on the original hole.
8 Aug 2025drilling progress report▼ Bad
Day 6 of Wombat-5: the directional tool was pulled after a survey tool fault, and depth is shown as 1,036 m. The tool is being run back in to resume the kick-off. The first operational problem.
7 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Day 5 of Wombat-5: reached the 1,099 m kick-off point and is running back to bottom after a wiper trip. Planned 7 inch casing point is now about 1,548 m.
6 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Day 4 of Wombat-5: 920 m, drilling vertically through the Latrobe Group, with 558 m in 24 hours. Next is kicking off near 1,100 m and building to 88° at about 1,392 m.
5 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Re-lodgement of the 4 August Wombat-5 update: day 3, 362 m, 9-5/8 inch casing cemented. Same content, no new information.
4 Aug 2025drilling progress report● Neutral
Day 3 of Wombat-5: 9-5/8 inch casing cemented at 302 m with full returns, the blowout preventer tested, and the hole drilled to 362 m. No problems reported.
1 Aug 2025drilling spud▲ GoodMajor
Wombat-5 spudded at 6am on 1 August 2025, the first Lakes well here since the 2013 drilling ban. It is a horizontal well to about 3,050 m, with drilling and completion expected to take about four weeks, then a production test.
21 July 2025drilling scheduled▲ Good
First rig containers arrived 20 July, so rig establishment has begun and Wombat-5 stays on track to spud 31 July. Gives the flow-rate case: low 1.5, central 10, high 15 MMscfd, based on earlier Wombat-2 and Wombat-3 results. Text is truncated.
16 July 2025drilling scheduled▲ Good
Site works at the 100%-owned Wombat field are on schedule, with well cellar, mud pond, flare pit and access road in place. Wombat-5 drilling is set for 31 July 2025 after all approvals; it targets up to 10 TJ/day.
18 Apr 2024farm in farm out agreement● NeutralMajor
Lakes drops the Cooper Energy PEP 169 farmout announced in October 2023 after two unsolicited offers it calls materially superior. Terms are confidential and under evaluation. Ends the $1.2m Cooper deal that the company's funding claims rested on.
23 Oct 2023farm in farm out agreement▲ GoodMajor
Binding terms agreed to farm out 25.1% of PEP 169 to Cooper Energy for $1.2m upfront, plus funding Lakes' Enterprise North-1 well share up to $1.25m. Subject to due diligence and Armour's matching right. Drilling now targeted around mid-2024; Lakes says it is funded through 2024.
23 Oct 2023farm in farm out agreement▲ Good
Cooper Energy's own release confirms the PEP 169 farm-in terms: 25.1% for $1.2m upfront and funding of Lakes' retained 23.9% share of Enterprise North-1 drilling costs, capped at $1.25m. Conditional on due diligence, documents and approvals. Repeats Lakes' announcement.
1 June 2023farm in farm out agreement▲ GoodMajor
Lakes sells 50% of its six Arrowie Basin (SA) licence applications to Gehyra Flux, which will fund native title work and get exclusive natural hydrogen rights. Lakes keeps petroleum rights; each pays the other a 2% royalty on any production. No cash payment is stated.
28 Sept 2022resource reserve update▲ GoodMajor
Lakes estimates the Enterprise North prospect in PEP 169 holds up to 419 Bcf of gas and 10 million barrels of condensate (209 Bcf and 5 MMBbl net), with a 72% stated chance of success. It is unrisked, undrilled, and approvals are still underway.
26 July 2022drilling scheduled▲ GoodMajor
Lakes flags a new prospect, Enterprise North, in PEP 169 (Lakes 49%, Armour 51%), on trend with Beach's Enterprise discovery. Work has begun to get approval for a vertical well. No resource figure given yet.
12 July 2022farm in farm out agreement▲ GoodMajor
Lakes signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement with TotalEnergies on PPL 560 (Buna). TotalEnergies funds the studies and seismic and can take 75%, funding the first US$30m of a first well; Lakes keeps 25%. This follows the Buna farm-out talks.
23 Feb 2022drilling progress report● Neutral
Final daily report 13: surface plug set and rig released at midday, then demobilised. Lakes says the well was drilled on time and on budget with no safety or environmental incidents.
23 Feb 2022drilling result▼ BadMajor
Wellesley-2 failed to discover gas; it hit the muddy edge of the sand channel rather than thick reservoir. Lakes plans an iodine survey, then 3D seismic. The well met an ASX relisting condition. Wombat-5 and Otway-1 approvals continue, with drilling targeted mid-2022.
22 Feb 2022drilling progress report● Neutral
Daily report 12: the last two downhole plugs were set, including one across the casing shoe. The rig began dismantling the blowout preventer ahead of release.
21 Feb 2022drilling result▼ Bad
Daily report 10: slow pressure build-up shows the Boxvale is less developed and very tight than at Wellesley-1. The company says the well missed the main sand channel complex. The test string was pulled and abandonment plugging began, effectively a dry hole.
21 Feb 2022drilling progress report● Neutral
Daily report 11: three 100 m cement abandonment plugs were set and tagged to isolate the reservoir and aquifers. Two more plugs, a surface plug and rig release follow.
18 Feb 2022drilling progress report● Neutral
Daily report 8: logging finished and drill stem test tools run in to straddle the Boxvale Sands from 1,514 to 1,533 m. The flow test is next. No results yet.
17 Feb 2022drilling progress report● Neutral
Daily report 7: wireline logging suite 1 was run from total depth. Sonic logging and the drill stem test tools to test the Boxvale gas shows are next. No flow results yet.