Melbana Energy is back in the hunt for new suitors to partner its aspirations for WA-488-P offshore northern Australia after Santos’ option to farm into the prospect lapsed.
Containing the potentially significant Beehive prospect, the permit is located in the Bonaparte Gulf in some coveted real estate between Blacktip, a producing gas field, and the Turtle and Barnett oil discoveries, which are undeveloped.
Drill by December
The permit carries an obligation to drill an exploration well by December this year and Melbana said its data room had been piqued by results from a 3D seismic survey and work conducted on rig selection and well permitting.
Beehive is a 180km isolated carbonate build-up of Carboniferous age with 400m of mapper vertical relief and a crest at 4,100m. Melbana says it is analogous to the giant Tengiz field onshore Kazakhstan, another Carboniferous isolated carbonate build-up.
