Chevron Australia said it has reached an agreement with Beach Energy to acquire working interests in two onshore gas blocks covering an estimated 810,000 acres in the Cooper Basin in central Australia.
The agreement provides an opportunity for Chevron to explore, evaluate and assess the potential for natural gas from shale and tight gas development in blocks PEL 218 and ATP 855.
Under the agreement, Chevron acquires an initial 30 percent working interest in the Permian section of PEL 218 in South Australia and an 18 percent working interest in ATP 855 in Queensland. Ultimately, Chevron could earn 60 percent working interest in PEL 218 and 36 percent working interest in ATP 855 via staged earning.
“ Chevron continually looks at opportunities to expand its resource base and add to its asset portfolio globally. This opportunity potentially gives us additional high-quality resources with long-term growth potential which aligns with our business strategy ,” said Melody Meyer, president, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production Company .
Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski said, “ We have an industry-leading queue of LNG projects under development in Australia and this agreement provides an opportunity to explore a new, prospective basin and potentially add to our natural gas portfolio. The Cooper Basin is an established petroleum producing basin and provides the opportunity to leverage our expertise in tight gas .”
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LNG World News Staff, February 25, 2013