Bass Strait Seeks Farm-in Partners for Gippsland Assets

Bass Strait Seeks Farm-in Partners for Gippsland Assets

Bass Strait Oil Company Ltd has engaged IndigoPool, a subsidiary of the multi-national oil and gas services company Schlumberger Ltd, to act as its agent in marketing the Company’s extensive interests in the Gippsland Basin.

BAS currently holds large interests (ranging from 40% to 100%) in a portfolio of five Gippsland Basin permits, Vic/P41, Vic/P42, Vic/P47, Vic/P66 and Vic/P68. These permits range from near term appraisal/development opportunities (Judith and Moby gas fields in Vic/P47) through to wildcat (Vic/P41, Vic/P42 and Vic/P68) and frontier exploration opportunities (Vic/P66).

Through the large interest held in Vic/P41, Vic/P47, Vic/P66 and Vic/P68, BAS has the largest acreage holding along the productive Rosedale Fault trend on the northern margin of the Basin.

Vic/P42 is located adjacent to Kingfish, Australia’s largest oil field and other producing ExxonMobil/BHPBilliton oil and gas fields.

Existing non-producing gas and condensate discoveries within Vic/P42, at ZaneGrey and Omeo, further underline the prospectivity of the acreage. As a result of its ongoing planning for the Gippsland Basin portfolio, Bass has been in incomplete and non-binding discussions with a number of potential farminees. On the basis of the level of interest received from these discussions and ahead of 3D seismic acquisition and exploration/appraisal drilling, the Company has engaged IndigoPool with the objective of maximising the value of these assets via a farmout or divestment.

IndigoPool will assist Bass in the farmout/divestiture process by drawing on their access to a worldwide pool of oil and gas entities interested in participating in these types of opportunities and will review a broad spectrum of value enhancing  opportunities for these assets.

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Press Release, August 16, 2012