Cooper gets new gas sales deal with Origin

The Casino Henry Joint Venture, operating gas fields offshore Southern Australia, has signed a new gas sales agreement with Origin Energy.

The Casino Henry JV comprises of operator Cooper Energy (50%), Mitsui E&P Australia Limited (25%), and Peedamullah Petroleum (25%).

Australia’s Cooper Energy said on Wednesday that the new gas sales agreement between the JV and Origin Energy would provide supply from January 1, 2019, to January 1, 2020, at current market prices.

The JV also entered into a new agreement with Lochard Energy for processing at the Iona Gas Plant for a minimum of one year and a maximum of three years to support a smooth transition to the Minerva Gas Plant in due course.

Cooper added that production from Casino Henry was currently supplied to Origin Energy under a gas sales agreement that expires on December 31, 2018.

It is worth mentioning that this was the sixth term gas contract Cooper Energy had written in the past three years.

Cooper Energy managing director, David Maxwell, said: “We are pleased to be contributing to the supply of gas for south-east Australian energy users and expect this contribution will lift in coming years. We are also planning to increase our investment in bringing more gas to market, through further development of the Henry gas field and in exploration for new gas fields that can be brought online.

“The joint venture is also looking forward to completing our acquisition of the Minerva Gas Plant in due course, once the Minerva field has ceased production. We foresee the plant playing a key enabling role in Otway Basin gas, not only for Casino Henry but also for other discoveries made in the region.”

To remind, the Casino Henry JV has an agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire the Minerva Gas Plant on cessation of its current operations processing gas from the Minerva gas field.

The Casino Henry joint venture also holds the adjoining VIC/P44 exploration permit and VIC/RL11 and VIC/RL12 retention licenses.