Quadrant Energy, Carnarvon team in oil project off Australia

Carnarvon Petroleum has joined Quadrant Energy in a new Barrow sub-basin oil project, offshore Australia.

The company on Thursday said it acquired a 35% interest in retention licence TR/3, containing the previously discovered Blencathra oil resource, WA-155-P containing the Outtrim-1 oil discovery and WA-486-P, offshore Australia.

Carnarvon acquired part of the project from Japan’s Inpex, through the acquisition 28.5% in Part 1 of Block WA-155-P. The block is located about 50km offshore Western Australia.

The objective of the project is to discover and aggregate sufficient oil resources to underpin a field development, Carnarvon explained. It said that central to the strategy would be the result of the Outtrim East-1 well which will in addition to testing the extent of oil discovered in the Outtrim-1 reservoir, investigate the potential for new oil charged sands to the north and east of the original 1984 well.

Quadrant Energy – as operator with 65% – is currently planning to drill the Outtrim East-1 well around June 2016 using the contracted Noble Tom Prosser drilling rig, Carnarvon said.

Carnarvon Managing Director and CEO, Adrian Cook said, “This project illustrates the mutual confidence and strong relationship between Carnarvon and Quadrant Energy, as well as underpinning our focus on North West Shelf oil and gas exploration. The opportunity provides us with tremendous upside potential for a relatively modest investment, and represents another step forward in our strategy to position Carnarvon for a recovery in oil prices.”