Australian oil and gas explorer, Cue Energy, said that BP’s option to acquire 42.5 percent interest in WA-350-P exploration permit in the Ironbark prospect, has been extended by six months.
The Ironbark prospect is less than 50 kilometers from the North Rankin platform, part of the North West Shelf LNG project, and in close proximity to Pluto and Wheatstone LNG infrastructure
The exploration permit currently expires on April 25, however, Cue Energy, submitted a suspension and extension application to the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) to allow new technical information to be incorporated into the Ironbark-1 well planning process.
The Ironbark prospect is mapped with an area of up to 400 square kilometers with an estimate of 15 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of prospective recoverable gas resource.
In the agreement, signed in October 2016 , BP agreed to fund 50 percent of the well drilling in the license as well as to assist Cue Energy Resources in securing partners for the WA-359-P exploration well drilling campaign scheduled for the first half of 2018.
A similar agreement has been executed with Beach Energy at the end of November last year under which Beach Energy acquired 21 percent equity interest in WA-359-P in exchange for a one-off payment to Cue of A$900,000 for past costs, and future payments equating to 4 percent of Cue’s cost of drilling the Ironbark-1 exploration well within the permit.