Bass Strait Oil Company Ltd (ASX: BAS) has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with HIREX Petroleum Sdn Bhd. HIREX has access to proprietary evaluation technology that it will use as a means of determining whether HIREX will participate in specific BAS exploration opportunities in the Gippsland Basin. The Collaboration Agreement outlines the agreed forward principles for BAS and HIREX to apply to opportunities.
VIC/P42 (BAS: 100%)
The evaluation technology will initially be applied to an assessment of the Vic/P42 permit. Subject to government approval of a work program variation request, HIREX and BAS will work together over the next 3 months to reassess the prospectivity of the permit by integrating the new technology with conventional geological and geophysical data. HIREX may then commit to acquiring a 51% participating interest in the permit and the joint venture may commit to drilling an exploration well in the 2014/2015 period.
About HIREX
HIREX is a 50:50 joint venture between Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad (“Hibiscus”) and Rex International Holding BVI Ltd (“Rex”). Hibiscus is Malaysia’s first listed independent exploration and production company and has a detailed understanding of the Gippsland Basin via its 13% equity interest in 3D Oil Ltd (ASX:TDO) and operatorship of the VIC/P57 joint venture. Rex is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange and owns the proprietary evaluation technology, Rex Virtual Drilling, that HIREX consider is able to increase the probability of success in exploration and appraisal drilling. The technology is a software based tool that relies on the phenomenon of resonance in seismic data to detect hydrocarbon deposits and predict oil in-place volumes.
“BAS welcomes this Collaboration Agreement with HIREX to apply new technology to our Gippsland Basin activities. It provides an opportunity to further understand the prospectivity of the basin and potentially increase the probability of drilling success,” said Bass Strait Oil Company in a press release.
[mappress] Press Release, September 20, 2013