BP to decide on Australia farm-in option in December

BP has been given more time to decide if it wants to take equity in Cue Energy Resources’ offshore block in Australia.

Cue said on Wednesday that the deadline for BP to exercise the equity option over exploration permit WA-359-P granted to BP in October 2016 and due to expire on the October 25, 2017, had been extended until the  December 11, 2017.

“If BP exercise the option over WA-359-P, 50% of the Ironbark well cost will be funded. Cue is seeking to secure a partner or partners to join
themselves and BP in WA-359-P to drill an exploration well in 2018 to test the Ironbark prospect,”the company said.

According to Cue Energy, the Ironbark prospect is a giant Mungaroo Formation prospect that is mapped with an area of up to 400km2 with a best technical estimate of 15 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of prospective recoverable gas resource1 based on an internal technical assessment performed by Cue.

Cue has also said that Wood Mackenzie estimates that the North West Shelf LNG plant and infrastructure will have spare capacity from 2021.The Ironbark prospect is less than 50km from the North Rankin platform (North West Shelf LNG) and in close proximity to Pluto and Wheatstone LNG infrastructure, providing cost effective commercialization options, the company added.