Mitsui Expands WestSide Joint Venture Alliance into the Galilee Basin (Australia)

WestSide Corporation Limited has received a notice of intention from Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd (Mitsui) to exercise its farm-in option to acquire a 49 per cent interest in each of the Company’s Galilee Basin tenements, ATP 974P and ATP 978P.

WestSide’s Chief Executive Officer Dr Julie Beeby welcomed Mitsui’s decision to expand the alliance to jointly explore the tenements encompassing 14,480km2 in a prospective area acknowledged as Queensland’s last coal seam gas (CSG) frontier. “The arrangement remains subject to receipt of all relevant regulatory approvals, the negotiation and execution of a mutually agreeable farm-in agreement, including the work program and budget to be implemented, and reimbursement of 49 per cent of WestSide’s costs to date,” Dr Beeby said.

“These tenements, containing an estimated 21 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, are currently 100 per cent owned by WestSide and preparatory work is already well advanced to enable exploration drilling to commence during the second half of the current financial year.” In March 2010 WestSide and Mitsui announced they would jointly acquire the since renamed Meridian SeamGas CSG fields and that Mitsui would have an option to acquire 49 per cent of WestSide’s existing interests in the neighbouring Paranui prospect (ATP 769P) and its new Galilee Basin tenements (ATP 974P and ATP 978P).

The alliance was subsequently extended in June 2010 to potentially include WestSide’s CSG interests in ATP 688P in Queensland’s northern Bowen Basin. WestSide currently holds 50 per cent interests in ATP 769P and ATP 688P which contains a number of promising CSG prospects including its Tilbrook and Mount Saint Martin projects.

Mitsui had until 31 October 2010 to exercise its options following completion of the Meridian acquisition. The farm-ins also remain conditional on WestSide’s existing joint venturer in ATP 769P and ATP 688P (QGC) waiving existing pre-emptive rights over those areas.

Dr Beeby said discussions in relation to the farm-in were continuing with QGC – a BG Group company. “Consequently we have agreed to extend Mitsui’s option exercise period in relation to ATP 769P and ATP 688P by five months to 31 March 2011 to enable those discussions to conclude,” Dr Beeby said.

About Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd

Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd is a subsidiary of one of Japan’s biggest corporations, Mitsui & Co. Ltd. The Mitsui group has approximately 150 offices around the world, spanning 66 countries. The Mitsui group has wide experience in equity investment, marketing, trading and finance covering all components in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) value chain.

It has been involved in the production of LNG globally since 1973 and is participating in nine major LNG projects which deliver substantial volumes of LNG to the Asian market. The Mitsui group is a participant in the North West Shelf (NWS LNG Project) through a 50 per cent share in Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty. Ltd (MIMI). Formed in 1985, MIMI is one of seven shareholders in the NWS LNG Project which has been supplying natural gas to the West Australian domestic market since 1984 and LNG to Japan since August 1989.

Apart from the NWS LNG Project business, the Mitsui group’s main upstream oil and gas investments through Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd in the Australian and New Zealand energy sector are the Enfield/Vincent Area (WA) and Tui Area (NZ) as oil producing projects and Casino area (Victoria) and Kupe (NZ) as gas producing projects. Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd’s portfolio also extends to more than 20 exploration permits in the Exmouth/Browse Basin, Otway/Sorell Basin, Taranaki Basin and Great South Basin.

Together with its affiliate companies, Mitsui’s Energy group is committed to expanding its activities in the Australian and New Zealand oil and gas sector both through participation in upstream projects and trading of crude oil, gas, refined petroleum products and renewable fuels.

About WestSide Corporation Ltd

WestSide Corporation Limited is an ASX-listed company with interests in coal seam gas (CSG) projects in Queensland and Indonesia. WestSide operates the Meridian SeamGas CSG fields west of Gladstone in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. WestSide holds a 51% interest in the fields with Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd holding the remaining 49%. Elsewhere in the Bowen Basin, WestSide is currently operating an exploration and appraisal program at the ATP 769P (Paranui) and ATP 688P (Tilbrook, Mount Saint Martin and Bald Hill) sites.

WestSide holds a 50% interest in each area with QGC holding the other 50% in each case. WestSide also has a position in the Galilee Basin (Queensland) with two new tenements (ATP 974 and 978) covering an area of over 14,480km2. The Company expects to commence exploration activities in these tenements later this financial year, and is also assessing the CSG potential of certain coal deposits in Indonesia through its relationship with PT Bumi Resources TBK, one of Indonesia’s largest coal miners.

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Source: WestSide Corporation, November 1, 2010