Page 10 - GLNG Week 45

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

Ironbark would emerge
as the most competitive
backfill option for North
West Shelf (NWS) LNG.

seismic – and multiple Patchawarra gas pros- the way for the project to feed around 1.5mn
pects adjacent to the Gemba discovery. The tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG production from
deal is expected to be settled before the end of late 2023.
March 2021. Beach’s sizeable upstream developments
While the company’s interests in Victoria carry with them some equally hefty financial
and SA should help it to target an anticipated obligations, requiring some careful stewardship
gas supply shortfall in the East Coast market, from the company’s management. This process
which the Australian Energy Market Operator already appears to be underway, however, if
(AEMO) has warned could hit Victoria as soon the company’s recent deal with Red Sky is any
as 2023, Beach is also counting on its interests indication.
in the country’s west to advance its export-ori-
entated goals. Red Sky delight
Australian junior Red Sky Energy revealed this
Western Australia potential week that it had agreed to pay AUD1 ($0.73) for
The company has stakes in two major gas plays Beach’s 100% interest in petroleum retention
in WA, both of which are anticipated to pro- licence 13 (PRL-13), which is located in SA’s
vide backfill options for the state’s LNG export onshore Otway Basin. PRL-13, which covers
industry. 17.5 sq km and contains the Killanoola oilfield,
Beach owns 21% of WA-359-P in the offshore lies close to the Jacaranda Ridge and Haselgrove
Carnarvon Basin, where senior partner BP gas fields and Katnook gas processing facility in
started drilling the shallow-water Ironbark-1 the Penola Trough.
exploration well on October 31. BP owns 42.5% Red Sky said on November 6 that under the
of the licence. deal it would assume all liabilities relating to
The well – projected to take 70-90 days to the licence’s decommissioning, abandonment,
drill – will test the Ironbark gas prospect that is rehabilitation and remediation or restoration.
estimated to hold 15 trillion cubic feet (424.8bn The junior plans to “re-start” the Killanoola-1 Beach aims to
cubic metres) of prospective recoverable gas well once the deal has been finalised and intends
resources. Ironbark-1’s primary target is the to resume oil production using existing infra- reach a final
Deep Mungaroo play, which lies at 5,335 metres structure and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) investment
true vertical depth (TVD). techniques.
If the pre-drill estimates are accurate then, The Killanoola-1 exploration discovered 34 decision (FID)
according to Citi, Ironbark would be the larg- degree API oil at a depth of 850 metres in 1998
est undeveloped gas resource in Australia and and previously flowed at rates of up to 300 bar- on the second
would emerge as the most competitive backfill rels per day (bpd). Red Sky said it did not expect
option for North West Shelf (NWS) LNG. the field to hold commercial quantities of gas. stage of Waitsia’s
The company also has a 50% non-operated While a second well – Killanoola Southeast-1 – development by
interest in the Waitsia project, which has been was drilled in 2011 and also discovered oil, it has
dubbed one of the country’s largest onshore not been tested. the end of this
discoveries in the last four decades and is also Red Sky said it intended to record a 3D seis-
widely anticipated to supply NWS LNG. mic survey, test Killanoola-Southeast-1 and year.
Waitsia is being developed in partnership complete a field development plan (FDP).
with Japan’s Mitsui and Co. and is the only pro- By divesting PRL-13, Beach has been able to
ject that received an exemption from the WA free up essential cash flow that would otherwise
government’s announced onshore gas export have been tied up in end-of-life obligations.
ban. Beach aims to reach a final investment This will allow it to continue driving potentially
decision (FID) on the second stage of Waitsia’s transformative exploration and development
development by the end of this year, paving efforts elsewhere in the country.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 45 13•November•2020