Finder hands over the baton in Bedout Sub-basin to Quadrant

Finder Exploration (Finder) has entered into a sales and purchase agreement with Quadrant Oil Australia for Finder’s entire acreage holding in the Bedout Sub-basin, offshore Western Australia. 

The permits are located 130 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia in the Bedout Sub-Basin and contain both the 2014 Phoenix South oil discovery and the 2015 Roc wet gas discovery.

The permits and Finder’s stakes are as follows: WA-435-P – 20%; WA-436-P – 30%; WA-437-P – 20%; and WA-438-P – 30%.

The transaction is effective March 1, 2016 and is subject to conditions precedent as well as procurement of regulatory approval, registrations and joint venture approval. Finder said that financial details of the transaction remain confidential, but include a combination of success payments and a royalty. Finder was advised by Miro Advisors.

The company added it has a strategic alliance with Fugro to provide technical and/or financial support for selected Finder exploration opportunities. In return, Fugro receives a share of the profits earned from the projects in which it participates. As such Fugro is entitled to a 50% share of the profits from this transaction.

Shane Westlake, Finder’s Chief Executive Officer, said “Finder is proud to have been involved with Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd (its original Joint Venture partner) in the early exploration phase of a new and potentially prolific hydrocarbon province offshore Australia. Having had two exploration successes now is the time to “hand over the baton” to Quadrant to take these discoveries to first production and to continue exploration efforts.”

Jan Ostby, Finder’s founder and Sole Director, said: “Our success in the Bedout Sub-basin demonstrates the Finder model works – by adding value in overlooked basins or plays through geoscience excellence and new data. We were fortunate to secure Apache (now Quadrant) along with JX Nippon as initial farmin partners to deliver our 100% success rate from exploration drilling based on 3D seismic data in an emerging hydrocarbon province – you just can’t get any better than that!”