Shell secures new deepwater acreage in the Carnarvon basin

Offshore staff

Shell Development Australia (Shell) has been awarded exploration rights to four deepwater blocks in the Carnarvon basin offshore Western Australia.

Shell's permit areas, WA-364-P, WA-365-P, WA-366-P, and WA-367-P, are on the Exmouth plateau, 160-480-km northwest of the Western Australian coastline. The plateau is the deepwater frontier of the Carnarvon basin, Australia's premier petroleum basin, which includes the North West Shelf and the Greater Gorgon resources.

Chairman of the Shell Companies in Australia, Tim Warren, says: "Australia is an important part of Shell's regional and global growth ambitions for gas. Shell is a global leader in LNG and a long-term player in Australia. We are keen to add more integrated gas to our portfolio and are looking to discover more gas around the LNG hubs where we already have a presence, e.g., Gorgon, Browse, Sunrise, and the Timor Sea.

The planned 3D seismic and drilling program will exploit the comprehensive deepwater gas experience that the two companies can bring to bear.

Shell will have a 50% interest and Chevron will be the operator of all four permits.

07/05/05