MEO Pulls Out of NT/P79 Permit Offshore Australia

MEO Australia Limited has announced that it’s wholly owned subsidiary,  Finniss Offshore Exploration Pty Ltd (Finniss), has received regulatory approval to withdraw from and surrender exploration permit NT/P79.
MEO farmed into the permit in December 2012 to pursue an exploration play concept that required validation by 2D seismic data that was not available at the time of the farm-in. The 2D data was acquired by Geoscience Australia  at no cost to the NT/P79
participants. Following receipt and evaluation of this seismic data, MEO concluded that the exploration play concept could not be sufficiently de-risked to warrant further investment in this permit.
Having satisfied the Permit Year 4 work obligations, the joint venture participants consequently elected to withdraw from and surrender NT/P79 prior to the commencement of permit year 5.

MEO’s CEO and MD Jürgen Hendrich said:“MEO’s entry into NT/P79 was predicated on being able to de-risk a geological play concept with 2D
seismic data that was acquired by GA. Unfortunately, this data did not enable the play concept to be matured. We have therefore surrendered the permit and will focus our efforts on higher value opportunities.”

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Press Release, August 27, 2013