Armour Energy Granted Qld Exploration Permit, Australia

The Directors of Armour Energy announced that the Company has been granted exploration tenement ATP1087 over an area of 7138 km² (1.76 million acres) in Northern Queensland. 

ATP 1087 covers the thick prospective sections of the  petroleum rich South Nicholson and underlying Isa Super Basins.

These basins extend to the south into ATP1107 where Armour Energy is the Preferred Tenderer and to the west into   Armour’s Northern Territory application areas.

The target Lawn Hill Shale contains a thick, organic-rich source rock section showing up to 8% gas recorded in mud logs during drilling of four petroleum exploration wells by Comalco in the early 1990s. These wells in conjunction with substantial seismic data delineate an immediate Lawn Hill Shale exploration target area  of  approximately 1400 km² within the eastern area of ATP1087. A gas exploration fairway of an additional 6000 km² extends to the west across ATP 1087 and south into ATP1107 .

Armour’s Independent Experts have previously assessed 22.5 trillion cubic feet of mean prospective gas resource in the Proterozoic aged Lawn Hill Shale in ATP1087. Additional gas prospectivity has now also been identified by Armour in the underlying Riversleigh Shale that extends across the entire tenement.

The Company is proposing to finalise initial drill sites across ATP1087 during early 2013. These will be located on preexisting seismic lines. During the 2013 drilling campaign Armour proposes to drill three vertical wells and one lateral well targeting the Lawn Hill Shale. The first well is proposed in the eastern area of ATP 1087 adjacent to the Egilibria 1 well which recorded up to 8% gas (390 gas units) on mud logs during drilling in 1992. Further seismic surveys are also proposed for 2013.

Additional Riversleigh Shale Gas Upside  

Armour Energy’s 2013 drilling plans also include exploration of a newly identified regionally extensive shale gas play within the Riversleigh Shale. This shale is a stratigraphic equivalent of the Barney Creek Shale in the McArthur Basin,  Northern Territory over which Armour holds tenements and applications over 125,000km  2. The Riversleigh Shale has recorded significant gas shows up to 2.5% on mud logs in the Argyle Creek 1 and Desert Creek 1 wells in the western areas of ATP 1087.

The primary target for Armour’s aggressive drilling program over the next three years is to define up to 9 trillion cubic feet of gas resources and reserves from the Lawn Hill Shale Play in eastern area of ATP 1087.  This is a sufficient gas volume to supply a 6 million tonne per annum Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project for a period of 25 years.

Should the drilling programme prove up the existence of a Riversleigh Shale Gas Play then the total potential for gas   from the area will increase significantly and in combination with the Lawn Hill  Shale Gas play create a regionally pervasive, stacked and continuous gas charged shale play.

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LNG World News Staff, December 20, 2012; Image: Armour Energy