Tap Oil closes sale of Australian and New Zealand portfolio

Tap Oil has completed the sale and purchase agreement with Kensington Energy and has sold its residual Australian and New Zealand portfolio to Kensington.

Tap Oil signed a sale and purchase agreement with Kensington Energy, a privately-owned Australian oil and gas investment company, to sell its residual Australian and New Zealand portfolio earlier this week.

The transaction involved Tap selling a 20% participating interest in the BHP-operated WA-72-R, which contains the Tallaganda gas discovery and for which Tap has booked 49 PJ of net 2C gas resources.

It also included a 15% participating interest in the Eni-operated WA-25-L including the shut-in Woollybutt Oil Field where abandonment activities are tentatively scheduled between 2020 & 2021. Tap has a $6.46 million provision for Woollybutt field abandonment in its 2019 half year accounts.

Finally, the deal included a 5% oil, gas, and condensate overriding royalty interest over 66.67% of NZ PMP 38748 that includes the producing Sidewinder oil and gas field. Tap recorded revenue in 2018 of $0.15 million.

The agreement did not contain any conditions precedent, no government approvals were required, and no joint venture partners exercised their pre-emptive rights over WA-72-R.

The move is part of Tap’s strategy focusing capital and capability on Manora reinvestment opportunities, rationalizing, and commercializing the Australian portfolio, and reducing capital, operating, and corporate costs.

Tap holds a 30% direct interest in the G1/48 concession, which holds the Manora oil field. It is located offshore in the Gulf of Thailand and it is operated by Mubadala Petroleum.