Yes I firmly believe a farm-out deal will be done with a major oil company as the preferred option.
A retention lease was granted to the Scarborough consortium holding the Scarborough Thebes and Jupiter 8tcf fields. Woodside came along and paid
$400M for an estimated 2.6 tcf. The Scarborough partners are tossing around which development option to take due to its remoteness. With OXX's Ascalon gas-field, two pipelines are already nearby and only need tie-back and some buyers for the gas.
By the way, as an additional reason for a major to get involved, back in 2014, OXX was looking for farm-in interest for a suite of permits and the following info was out in the market:
http://www.energykeyfacts.com/latest-oil-and-gas-news/western-australia-bonaparte-basin-farm-opportunity
" The two permits holding the Ascalon field WA-407-P and WA-420-P contain 2151km2 of newly acquired 3D seismic and recently reprocessed legacy seismic. Within WA-407-P, the existing Early Cretaceous Saratoga and Late Permian Ascalon gas discoveries have been delineated by new 3D seismic. A significant number of material prospects at either the Early Cretaceous or the Late Permian have been depth mapped from the 3D seismic in both permits. Gas dim seismic anomalies recognised from the new 3D seismic over the Saratoga gas discovery and a number of adjacent prospects have significantly reduced exploration risk.
Anticlinal and fault block plays have been identified at the Early Cretaceous to Mid Jurassic levels, which have excellent quality reservoirs. Numerous oil and gas shows attest to the presence of a working petroleum system, with hydrocarbon charge directly into the northern portions of both WA-407-P and WA-420-P from the mature Sahul Syncline source kitchen. Gas charge for both the Ascalon and Saratoga gas discoveries in WA-407-P is postulated to have come from the underlying mature Permian source rocks via the bounding fault."
It seems to me that within WA-407-P and WA-420-P, the Ascalon field of 3tfc is possibly only "the tip of the iceberg". Is it any wonder, I'm excited by the prospect of a deal?
