Tap Oil exits Australian offshore license, Santos takes over

Tap Oil has entered into a sale and purchase agreement for the sale of its 22.474% non-operated interest in WA-33-R, in the offshore Carnarvon basin of Western Australia. 

Tap Oil said on Friday that, pursuant to the terms of the SPA, the company’s subsidiary, Tap Shelfal, will sell its interest in WA-33-R to its joint venture partners Quadrant Oil and Santos with Tap Shelfal’s interest being split between the buyers 12.361% and 10.113%, respectively.

Santos already had an 18.7% interest in the license and Quadrant was the operator. However, following Santos’ completion of the acquisition of its compatriot Quadrant earlier this week, Santos is the operator of the project.

Tap also said that the effective date of the transaction is July 1, 2018, being the date from which the buyers assume Tap Shelfal’s interest. Tap Shelfal retains capped exposure to pre-effective date liabilities, for a limited period. The transaction consideration and residual liabilities are not material to Tap.

The parties may unwind the transaction if regulatory approval is not obtained within a defined period.

The WA-33-R block contains the Maitland gas discovery for which the company previously recognized a net 2C Resource of 34.8 PJ gas and 0.3MMstb liquids in the ‘Development not Viable Category’.

The sale of WA-33-R is consistent with the company’s strategy to rationalize and monetize its Australian portfolio and focus its financial resources and technical skills on extending production and reserves in and around the Manora Oil Field in G1/48 Gulf of Thailand, where Tap has a 30% working interest.