AQO set to break 10c tomorrow with bids building theywe 18c a...

AQO set to break 10c tomorrow with bids building they

we 18c a month ago.

Cooper Basin: Conventional targets still winners for Senex Energy, Drillsearch Energy
Monday, July 02, 2012 by Bevis Yeo Conventional oil and gas exploration and development continue to deliver results for ASX companies operating in the Cooper Basin. While much of the attention appears to be focused on unconventional hydrocarbons, there is still plenty of conventional oil and gas potential remaining in the Cooper Basin if recent activity is any indication.

There is much to be said for conventional finds and developments, not the least being the ease of producing from any discoveries as well as lower costs as they don't need costly fracture stimulation to achieve commercial flows.

And while much of the focus appears to be on drilling infill locations or finding extensions of existing wells, there is still some potential for making new discoveries in this major petroleum province.

Ambassador Oil & Gas (ASX:AQO) is no doubt inspired by partner Senex Energy's (ASX: SXY) Vintage Crop-1 oil discovery that was placed into production in October last year.

The duo are now drilling the Shocking-1 about 1.8 kilometres north of Vintage Crop.

This targets more than 250,000 barrels of oil primary objective Murta, McKinlay, and Birkhead formations while upside could exist in the secondary Namur and Hutton Sandstone formation targets.

Shocking-1 will be followed by yet another exploration well, Kruger-1, which targets 380,000 barrels of oil.

Looking a little further back in time, Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) and Drillsearch Energy (ASX: DLS) had brought their Bauer oil field on stream in May. Initial production stands at 800 barrels per day (bpd) though this will be ramped up first to about 2000bpd then to 5000bpd when an export pipeline is completed.

Meanwhile, fields such as Cuisinier and Christies are the subject of appraisal and development drilling.

After all, why take the risk of searching for new commercially viable targets when you can take an already commercial field and either extend its life or add to it.

Santos (ASX: STO) clearly feels that way and has already drilled two successful appraisal/development wells at the Cuisinier oil field in the Queensland Cooper Basin.

This has being followed by a third well in the field before Santos and Senex move on to drill and exploration well in the same ATP 7525P Barta Block.

Meanwhile, Cooper Energy (ASX: COE) and Beach have returned to the Christies oil field and have drilled a successful well there.

Christies-6, the first well in the producing field since 2005, intersected oil shows in the primary objective Namur Sandstone as well as encouraging oil shows n the secondary objective Birkhead sandstone.

The two companies are believed to be drilling the Christies-7 development well now.

Future activity

Further conventional oil and gas activity can be expected in the Cooper Basin. The previously under-explored Western Flank has proven to be highly prospective and is likely to draw further exploration and appraisal work.

Notable examples include the aforementioned Bauer field, the Middleton-Brownlow wet gas field and the Haslam wet gas discovery.