Chinese-backed Exoma Energy to reveal oil find at Katherine...

Chinese-backed Exoma Energy to reveal oil find at Katherine prospect
Matt Chambers
December 05, 2011 12:00AM
CHINESE-BACKED oil and gas junior Exoma Energy is gearing up for an announcement today that it has made a 50 million barrel oil discovery at its onshore Katherine prospect near Longreach, despite a recent botched exploration well.
The company, which has a Queensland joint venture with China National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC), is understood to be ready to announce a mean, or P50 (50 per cent probability), oil resource of 50 million barrels following an annual general meeting declaration last month that it discovered oil.
Luckily for Exoma, the oil reservoir is a conventional one, not coal-seam or shale, meaning it should fly under the radar of recent concerns about unconventional wells that require fracking.
The drilling and cementing process badly damaged the Katherine reservoir, meaning there was no fluid flow, but the company has now evaluated the little information it did get from the drilling. Exoma is also expected to announce that the nearby undrilled Katherine East prospect could have up to 350 million barrels of oil in place, based on P10 resources.
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L'Exhibition, Lexus Premier Sales event, is now on.
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Judging by Exoma's 40 per cent share price rise last week, news of the results may have filtered out before the stock went into a trading halt. The shares last traded at 14c, giving it a market value of about $60 million.
Under a 2010 deal, CNOOC acquired 50 per cent of Exoma's Galilee Basin permits and the right to take a 17 per cent stake in the company by exercising options at 31.5c before the end of next year.