Partners back out of offshore Australia license

Oct. 3, 2016
Bass Strait Oil Co. Ltd. and Oil Basins Ltd. are planning to apply to Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Titles Authority for the surrender of their joint interest in Vic/P41.

Offshore staff

MELBOURNE, AustraliaBass Strait Oil Co. Ltd. (BAS) and Oil Basins Ltd. (OBL) are planning to apply to Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Titles Authority (NOPTA) for the surrender of their joint interest in Vic/P41.

The two companies have agreed that the forward work program is uneconomical and it is in all parties’ interest to surrender the title. Once the final report is lodged with NOPTA and the filing fee paid, BAS said it will have no further interest in or costs in relation to Vic/P41.

NOPTA previously gave BAS additional time to mature the prospect before drilling the exploration well, delaying the required activity by one year to Nov. 28, 2017. In an October 2015 technical review, BAS said that a new gross prospective resources of more than 1.75 tcf were identified in the Emperor formation in Vic/P41.

Permit Vic/P41 is located in the easternGippsland basin, approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of the Victorian coast.

According to BAS, the permit provided exposure to the easterly extension of two producing trends: the Rosedale Fault system that sets up prospects analogous to the Longtom/Judith Gas fields and, farther south, a second fault system trend extension is analogous to the Basker/Manta Gummy oil and gas fields.

BAS, as operator, held 64.655%; OBL held 35.435%.

In its statement, BAS said it was currently seeking to extract maximum value from its remaining Gippsland basin assets while actively pursuing new project opportunities.

10/03/2016