Cooper Energy leaves international ops to focus on Australia

Cooper Energy Limited, an Australian oil and gas E&P company, has ceased all international operations with the closure of operations in Tunisia and the completion of the sale of Indonesian operations.

Cooper said on Thursday that the company received the initial consideration of $500,000 and 180,000,000 shares in Bass Oil Limited for Cooper’s 55 percent stake in the Tangai-Sukananti project in South Sumatra, Indonesia.

To remind, the deal was announced in October 2016 as part of Cooper Energy’s plan to divest all international interest to focus the company solely on its Australian assets.

The deal is for a $5.7 million consideration to be received in deferred payments with the final payment received by December 2018, and receivables as they fall due. Cooper Energy is currently a 13.5% shareholder in Bass, and since the deal includes cash and shares, the company will increase its interest in Bass to 24.09%.

Offshore Energy Today also reported back in May that Cooper made a deal with the Tunisian government to exit from all its assets in the country, namely, three offshore permits in the Gulf of Hammamet.

Cooper Energy Managing Director David Maxwell said: “I would like to acknowledge the contribution made to our company by the employees who were engaged in our Indonesian and Tunisian operations.

“Our withdrawal from Indonesia and Tunisia has been driven entirely by our strategy of concentrating our efforts on our growth projects in Australia and in particular our opportunities to supply gas in southeast Australia.

“On behalf of the directors of the company I record our appreciation for the efforts made by the teams we employed in both Indonesia and Tunisia and the professionalism they have demonstrated while the divestment process has been ongoing.”

Cooper Energy’s portfolio is now solely concentrated on Australian assets consisting of offshore and onshore Australian licenses in the Cooper, Gippsland and Otway basins.