Page 10 - AsianOil Week 27

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Strike hits oil and gas in WA
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
STRIKE Energy has announced the discovery of oil and gas shows at its second well on explora- tion permit (EP) 469 in Western Australia’s Perth Basin.
West Erregulla-2 (WE-2) delivered particu- larly good hydrocarbon shows in the Lesueur Sandstone and Woodada Siltstone formations in the second intermediate hole section, the com- pany said on July 5. Both the Lesueur Sandstone and Woodada Siltstone had “fair to good visual porosity, uorescence in the cuttings and good elevatedmudgasreadings”.
e company began drilling the section at 3,371 metres and, once the rig’s drill bit has been changed, will continue drilling until a nominal depth of 4,230 metres. At this point, Strike will carry out open-hole logging of the formations as well as a conventional gas target in the Basal Wagina sandstone, which has not been encoun- tered yet. e well will be drilled to a planned total depth of 5,200 metres and will also pene- trate the primary gas sand sequence in the Kin- gia High Cli .
Strike said the second intermediate hole sec- tion’s shows were signi cantly better than those encountered in its rst well on the licence, WE-1.
Strike operates EP 469 with a 50% interest, while Warrego Energy owns the remaining 50%. e licence lies adjacent to the Waitsia gas devel- opment, which spans the L1 and L2 licences. Strike said it was targeting analogous Permian gas sands of a similar size and nature to Waitsia.
Mitsui E&P Australia (MEPAU) operates licences L1 and L2 with a 50% stake, while Beach Energyholdstheremaininginterest.
Beach announced last week that it would sell a 17% stake in the L11 and L22 production licences, EP 320 and pipeline licence (PL) 18 in the Perth Basin, to MEPAU. is will bring the companies’ joint venture interests in line with 50:50 ownership structure in place at L1 and L2.
Beach managing director Matt Kay said: “Moving to 50:50 ownership is a natural pro- gression in [our] relationship, which will help ensure both parties remain fully aligned on future activities.”™
PNG review of LNG agreement due this month
POLICY
PAPUA New Guinea’s (PNG) government will nish its review of the Papua LNG agreement before the end of July, Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua has said. e internal inquiry into the Papua LNG project is focusing on two areas, the Australian Financial Review quoted Kua as saying on July 8, who added that it would be wrapped up within two to three weeks.
“Number one is to ensure that all the legal requirements have been fully satis ed and sec- ondly, that the potential revenue for the state has been maximised in the agreement,” he said. “ ese are simple processes and we expect to complete it quite quickly. e state will evaluate what position it will take and if the matter is to progress, it will progress and we will put all our weight behind it. If there are going to be other options, then those options will be considered.”
Kua, who was appointed to his position on June 6, has been a vocal critic of the deal the for- mer government signed in April with Oil Search, Total and state-owned Kumul Petroleum for the development of the Elk-Antelope and P’nyang o shore natural gas elds. e two elds will underpin the US$14 billion development of two new 2.7mn tonne per year (tpy) LNG trains at ExxonMobil’s $19bn PNG LNG project.
Kua told the financial daily that he would meet key company executives this week.
Once the review of the Papua LNG agree- ment is over, the government intends to examine
the “entire legislative framework” for the mining and petroleum sector.
“ ere is a commonly held belief in this country that Papua New Guinea’s people are not getting enough out of these massive resource investment projects,” he said. “Part of the reason why the last government was changed and this government was put into place was for this very reason.”
Former prime minister Peter O’Neill resigned on May 26 a er several high-level defections from his party. He said at the time that a change of leadership would allow the country to “continue the reform agenda that we have been delivering”.
Kua added that he expected a commission to be established this month to investigate the $1.2bn loan from UBS the government used to nance its acquisition of 10% in Oil Search. e government eventually sold the stake at an estimated loss of $420mn. PNG Prime Minis- ter James Marape has promised to resign if an inquiry nds him guilty of improper conduct.™
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 27 10•July•2019