Australia: Voyager Explorer Begins Ascalon Seismic Shoot

Octanex N.L. announced today that the last of three new 3D seismic surveys has commenced, with the survey vessel now on location and acquiring the Ascalon 3D survey in WA-407-P. Acquisition of the Ascalon survey is expected to take approximately 24 days.

These new 3D seismic surveys are being acquired within three of the Company’s six Southern Bonaparte Basin permits. The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Goldsborough Energy Pty Ltd, holds a 100% participating interest in the WA-407-P and WA- 420- P permits, where the Ascalon survey is currently being acquired and the Tamar 3D survey has been acquired respectively. Goldsborough also holds a 60% interest in the third permit, WA-422-P, where the Rissa 3D survey was completed in  January 2012 – refer to the Southern Bonaparte Basin Permits & Surveys Location Map at Figure 1.

The sites of the polygons for the new 3D seismic surveys are displayed in Figure 1 and the background and objectives of the Ascalon 3D survey are outlined below. These new 3D seismic surveys follow the successful acquisition (during November 2011) of 2D seismic surveys in each of the Company’s other Southern Bonaparte Basin permits, WA- 421- P, WA-440-P and WA-441-P – see Figure 1. As with the completed 2D surveys, Seabird Exploration FZ LLC is carrying out the 3D surveys using the acquisition vessel, ‘Voyager Explorer”.

Ascalon 3D Survey

The Ascalon survey is the last of the three new 3D seismic surveys and the “Voyager Explorer” is currently on location and has commenced acquisition. The Ascalon 3D survey will acquire approximately 325 km2 of new 3D seismic data and fulfil the remaining Year 3 work obligations of the WA^407-P permit; being to acquire a minimum of 200 km2 of new 3D data. The additional Year 3 work obligation, to reprocess a minimum of 2000 km of existing 2D seismic data, was completed during 2011.

The Ascalon 3D survey area is located on a north-east structural trend between the Saratoga-1 and Ascaton-1 gas discovery wells in the western sector of the WA-407-P permit – see Figure 2.

The objective of the survey is to enable more precise mappng of both the Early Cretaceous Sandpiper Formation sandstone play and the deeper Late Permian. Tern and Cape  Hay sandstone plays of the Hyland Bay Formation. Although gas was discovered in the Early Cretaceous Sandpiper sandstone in Saratoga-1, there is the possibility that oil may be present in the leads defined on vintage 2D in the Ascalon 3D survey area as, unlike the Saratoga discovery, they are not located directly over the main structural fault that would have provided a conduit for gas to reach the Early Cretaceous Sandpiper Formation.

The Late Permian is a gas play – see the WA-407-P New 3D Seismic Grid and Postulated CHI & Gas Migration Pathways Map at Figure 2.

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Source: Octanex, February 10, 2012