Company Updates

Senex and Orora agree long-term gas sales agreement

17/12/2019 Posted by Dale

Senex Energy has announced an expansion of its natural gas sales agreement with Orora Limited, agreeing to supply 13.2 petajoules of natural gas from Project Atlas.

On 1 May 2019, Senex announced a two-year gas sales agreement with Orora for supply of 3.3 PJ of natural gas from 1 January 2020.

Senex and Orora have now agreed an expanded gas sale agreement, with Senex to supply a further 9.9 PJ of natural gas from Project Atlas over six years from 2022 to 2027, bringing the total contracted volume under this gas sales agreement to 13.2 PJ.

Gas will be supplied at the Wallumbilla Gas Hub in Queensland at market price escalated annually by CPI.

Polarcus starts seismic survey in the Petrel field

10/12/2019 Posted by Dale

The first significant investment in the Petrel field in five years has begun in the Bonaparte Basin with Polarcus commencing a 3D seismic survey in the area on behalf of Neptune Energy.

Neptune said the survey would expand the area of seismic data the company holds and significantly increase the quality and breadth of data, for the company and its partners in the Petrel JV to plan a path forward.

Neptune Energy Australia Managing Director, Janet Hann, said: “The Bonaparte Basin presents exciting growth opportunities for Neptune, and Petrel may play a significant role in our future aspirations for the area.

Empire capital raising strikes a chord for Betaloo Basin exploration

03/12/2019 Posted by Dale

Empire Energy has raised $12 million to advance exploration programmes in the company’s 100% owned EP187 tenement in the Betaloo Basin, Northern Territory.

Funds derived from the placement to institutional and sophisticated investors are set to unlock the Northern Territory’s first exploration targeting the Velkerri Shale.

At present 2D seismic data acquired in EP187 is being processed and interpreted to determine final locations for exploration drilling, which is scheduled to commence in the dry season next year, subject to regulatory approvals.

Empire Managing Director Alex Underwood said the successful capital had empowered Empire to build the value of its shale properties in the Beetaloo and McArthur Basins through disciplined exploration investment.

Mosman Oil and Gas granted one-year permit extension

26/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Mosman Oil and Gas has welcomed a one-year permit extension for a prospect in the Amadeus Basin in the Northern Territory whereby the Sydney-based company has been granted a 12-month suspension of year three work-program commitments.

The company has also been granted a corresponding extension of the permit term.

“This is exactly the decision Mosman had sought and now the company can move forward with the 2D seismic acquisition, seismic processing and interpretation and exploration well planning,” Mosman said.

The company said the work program was already progressing as it had contracted a seismic acquisition contractor and had completed field trips during 2019 to assess the terrain and logistical requirements for the seismic survey.

CGG Announces Largest OBN Multi-Client Survey in UK CNS

26/11/2019 Posted by Dale

CGG has announced a program to deliver the largest OBN multi-client survey ever conducted in the UK Central North Sea (CNS).

Planned to start in early 2020, the survey has already received significant industry interest and is being prefunded in part by BP. First results are targeted for Q1 2021.

CGG said that in the CNS, where complex salt diapirism has created significant challenges to imaging deeper reservoir targets, this new survey, with its long-offset, full-azimuth coverage and good low-frequency signal in a shallow water environment, together with CGG’s advanced imaging technology, will provide a step-change in seismic image and reservoir characterization quality.

PGS Supports Crowdsourced Bathymetry Initiative

25/11/2019 Posted by Dale

From 2020, all vessels in the PGS fleet will share bathymetry information collected using echo sounders, with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project. The project aims to map the entire ocean floor by the year 2030, the Norwegian headquartered marine geophysical company said this week.

The bathymetric data will support Seabed 2030’s crowdsourced bathymetry initiative – benefitting seafarers in the form of updated and more accurate sea charts, PGS added.

An agreement to this effect was signed between PGS and Seabed 2030 during the Sustainable Ocean Summit in Paris.

PGS operates a fleet of seismic vessels that traverse the world’s oceans and work in regions ranging from the developed to the unchartered.

Dave Monk joins DUG as Distinguished Advisor

19/11/2019 Posted by Dale

DownUnder GeoSolutions (DUG) has announced the appointment of world-respected geoscientist, Dave Monk, in the role of Distinguished Advisor. Monk had recently retired after nearly 20 years in senior roles at Apache Corporation.

DUG said that in Monk’s advisory capacity at the company, he would work alongside DUG’s executive team “as they navigate one of the most successful periods of growth for the company”. DUG has recently launched DUG McCloud: a global cloud, purpose built for HPC, and powered by one of the largest supercomputers on earth.

Bass Oil nodding donkey onshore Indonesia Fields

Bunian-5 oil production delivers “excellent” flow results for Bass

12/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Australia’s Bass Oil Limited has announced that the Bunian 5 well commenced production testing from the TRM 3 sandstone, one of the two productive oil reservoirs in the well.

The well averaged 1128 barrels of oil per day with a two percent water cut. Production was recorded on a fully open choke with a flowing wellhead pressure of 140 psi in the first 12 hours, commencing on 2 November 2019. The well has been choked back for the next phase of the testing program.

Woodside awards new Pluto-to-North West Shelf pipeline project to AGIG

12/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) – a leading national provider and operator of key energy infrastructure – has been awarded a significant new Western Australian project by Woodside for the pipeline component of its Pluto-North West Shelf (NWS) Interconnector.

A new 30-inch diameter pipeline will run 3.2 kilometres, connecting the Woodside-operated Pluto LNG Plant to the NWS Project’s Karratha Gas Plant (KGP), and is the first component of the infrastructure needed to transport gas between the two facilities.

Under the contract entered into with Woodside, AGIG will design, construct and operate the new pipeline in addition to three facilities including:

Matt Canavan Minister of Resources Northern Australia

Matt Canavan lauds NT survey as a potential gamebreaker

05/11/2019 Posted by Dale

Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, has welcomed a new seismic survey probing for gas and mineral resources in the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.

The 820km survey is in an area where little exploration has previously taken place and is being hailed as a potential ‘missing link’ between Mt. Isa and the Betaloo sub-basin.

Mr Canavan described the Beetaloo as a sub-basin with potential to deliver 178,000 Petajoules of shale gas, a bigger basket than any conventional gas resources on the North West Shelf.

“It’s exciting to have a region that could promise the same potential resources,” Mr Canavan said.