Adelaide, Sep 7, 2006 AEST (ABN Newswire) - A new $13 million exploration program to find oil in South Australia's South East has been announced by Adelaide Energy Pty Ltd.
Adelaide Energy - intent on becoming an active Cooper Basin explorer - could drill up to four onshore oil wells in the South East region over the next five years.
The aggressive exploration program follows the SA Government recently awarding Adelaide Energy Petroleum Exploration Licence PEL 255, located in the onshore S.A. portion of the Otway Basin.
The winning bid for block OT2006-A involves more than $13 million in exploration investment over the next five years, of which around $7.3 million is guaranteed.
Guaranteed elements of the bid include 3D seismic acquisition, an aeromagnetic survey, the drilling of two wells, together with geoscientific studies in the first two years of the program.
The non-guaranteed program includes two additional exploration wells and geoscientific studies.
Adelaide Energy Director, Mr Carl Dorsch, said the Company expected to spud its first South East oil appraisal well under the two stage work program, by March 2007.
"The new PEL covers the Jacaranda Ridge oil discovery that initially flowed 420 barrels of oil per day on a drill stem test 1999, but was deemed uneconomic at the time," Mr Dorsch said.
"Re-interpretation of petroleum drilling and seismic data by Primary Industries and Resources SA has revealed the prospect has significant potential, and would benefit from advanced drilling and production technologies currently available to define new leads."
SA's Mineral Resources Development Minister, Mr Paul Holloway, said he expected Adelaide Energy to bring new exploration strategies to the Otway Basin.
"Bidding was keen for the area, with five companies submitting bids following a highly successful acreage promotion campaign," Mr Holloway said
"Gas and oil discoveries in South Australia during the past 20 years, coupled by recent exploration successes in the Victorian sector of the onshore Otway Basin, support an optimistic view of the resource potential of this area.
"Although there have been several oil field discoveries in the onshore Otway Basin, the majority of discoveries have been gas," he said.
"Current production is restricted to the Katnook Gas Field, which is relatively mature and produces gas and condensate, so new oil discoveries in the area will have the potential to attract renewed interest in oil exploration opportunities."
Adelaide Energy last year successfully bid for and secured one of the largest prospective Cooper Basin gas acreage releases ever awarded, and the last major petroleum block, to be released under the SA Governments 1998 initiative to attract more aggressive, independent oil and gas explorers into the Cooper Basin.
The southwestern perimeter of Adelaide Energy's Cooper Basin tenements - the 1600 square kilometre CO2005-A block in the Nappamerri Trough - is just 25 kilometres northeast of the Moomba gas processing plant.
The holding covers one of the two primary source areas for gas for the wider Cooper Basin blocks in South Australia, and as the gas in the area is held in tight sands, only seven wells have been drilled, most with old technology and seismic.
The Company is expects to drill its first Cooper Basin well in late 2007, targeting potential oil accumulations in the overlying Eromanga sediments.
Subsequent wells will test the deeper gas formations in the Cooper Basin down to a total depth of around 3,500 metres.
Adelaide Energy's Chairman is veteran Cooper Basin explorer and former Delhi Petroleum and Stuart Petroleum executive, Mr Rod Hollingsworth.
Contact
Kevin Skinner
Senior Consultant
FIELD PUBLIC RELATIONS
231 South Road
MILE END SA 5031
Tel: (08) 8234 9555
Fax: (08) 8234 9566
Mob: 0414 822 631
kevin@fieldpr.com.au
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