Australia: Bass Gets New Offshore Acreage

Bass Strait Oil Company Ltd announces that the Commonwealth Victoria Offshore Petroleum Joint Authority has just granted the Company the 2011 Australian Acreage Release block V11-5 which will be known as Vic/P68.

The area lies in the northeastern part of the Gippsland Basin, and covers parts of the Central Deep, Northern Terrace and Northern Platform, with water depths increasing from 50-150m towards the southeast. It encompasses 16  graticular blocks and covers 1,082 km 2

The block contains two primary resource trends, the Rosedale Fault Trend and the Lake Wellington Fault Trend

Rosedale Fault Trend – gas and associated liquids

The block contains gas prospects immediately offset (2km to the west) from the Kipper Gas Field, recently developed by the ExxonMobil/BHPBilliton/Santos Joint Venture. The Kipper Gas Field, together with two recent discoveries, Southeast Remora-1 and Southeast Longtom-1, have confirmed a new play in the Gippsland Basin in which gas condensate is reservoired in the Golden Beach subgroup of the Latrobe Group and where traps are associated with the Rosedale Fault.

The Rosedale Fault Trend has been a key focus of activity for BAS over the last few years with the company now assembling the largest acreage position in this trend. BAS operates three other permits along this trend, Vic/P47, Vic/P41 and Vic/P66 and will now add the fourth by holding the new permit with 100% interest. Such levels of Operatorship are unique for junior oil and gas exploration companies in the region. These four permits account for approximately 4,000 acres focused on the Rosedale Fault Trend.

Because of its acreage position along the Rosedale Fault Trend, the company has been able to establish a balanced portfolio of opportunities. The following table documents the resources held by BAS in its acreage along the Rosedale Fault  Trend together with their maturity. All of these prospects lie within subsea completion tie back distances from the major current developments and those considered likely for development in the near future. This translates into multiple commercialisation routes for each prospect. Gas is currently anticipated to be required to fill contractual gaps from 2016 onwards which aligns with the Company’s timing of commercial development in the region.

Lake Wellington Fault Trend – oil

Previous operators working this area of the Northern Platform have identified a trend of structures associated with movement on the Lake Wellington Fault. Leatherjacket-1 intersected two oil columns (25m and 8m thick) within the high permeability reservoirs of the upper Latrobe Group and is immediately downdip of five similar structural features (leads) in the northern portion of the permit that have been interpreted by BAS. These will be the focus of addressing this play trend.

Forward Work Program

The inclusion of the Vic/P68 into the Company’s portfolio will not have any meaningful impact on Bass’ cash requirement for 2012. It is planned to undertake high resolution 3D seismic over the prospects which are not “drill ready” in early  2013 (Stanton) and 2014 (Lake Wellington Fault Trend leads and Philbrick/Hugo on the Rosedale Fault Trend) dependent on acquisition vessel availability.

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Source: Bass Strait Oil Company Ltd, May 7, 2012