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RUSSELL SEARANCKE Wellington Friday, 11 December, 2009, 02:12 GMT
Well puts Cornea back in the game
Partners set to drill new appraisal probe at NW Australian prospect
An oil discovery with a history in north-west Australias hydrocarbon-rich Browse basin will get a new lease of life next week when its Australian owners spud the Cornea-3 appraisal well, which the partners believe is a low-risk oil play.
Operator Exoil said it expected to take delivery of the semi- submersible drilling rig Songa Venus on about 8 December and spud the Cornea-3 well on 14 December.
Exoil described the appraisal well as a low-risk oil play in a known accumulation.
Shell discovered Cornea in Block WA-342-P in the late 1990s and, at the time, believed the accumulation to be substantial.
However, a subsequent multi-well appraisal programme failed to prove this and Shell later surrendered the area back to the state government following talks that centered on the Anglo-Dutch supermajor not meeting its drilling commitments in the Cornea area.
The acreage lay dormant for several years until mid-2003, when it was re-released by the state government and awarded to a consortium of privately-owned Australian companies.
The consortium is made up of Exoil with 29.75%, Batavia Oil & Gas on 29.75%, Australian Oil & Gas Corporation on 17%, Gascorp Australia with 15% and Goldsborough on 8.5%.
Exoil is understood to be operator, while publicly-listed Moby Oil & Gas has signed a farm-in agreement with Exoil and Goldsborough to earn a 22.375% stake in the project.
Moby chairman Geoff Albers said success at Cornea-3 would provide Moby with the scope for being part of a future oilfield development.
Contingent oil reserves have been independently assessed by RPS Energy and put at a low estimate of 13 million barrels and a high of 85 million barrels, said Moby.
Exoil said Shells early exploration wells Cornea-1, 1B and 2 are considered to have established the presence of a 25-metre gas column and a 22.2-metre oil column in the Albian sandstones of the Jamieson formation.
The field is a large drape feature. It accumulated 22 to 24 degrees API oil derived from Early Cretaceous, Echuca Shoals formation and possibly Late Jurassic source rocks in the Heywood Graben, said Exoil.
The field is split into three main structural components Cornea South and Cornea Central, both with gas and oil, and Cornea North with gas and no underlying oil presence.
An official with the Western Australian state government said the partners would most likely have a field development on their hands if they could prove up between 20 million and 30 million barrels of recoverable oil.
MOG Price at posting:
19.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
