Beach farming into frontier permit offshore New Zealand

Beach Energy Ltd. has reached agreement with OMV GSB Ltd to acquire a 30% participating interest in exploration permit PEP50119 in the Great South basin offshore New Zealand.

 

Under the agreement, Beach will acquire a 30% participating interest in the permit in exchange for funding a 30% share of the Tawhaki-1 well cost and the associated work program and budget.

 

The transaction is subject to New Zealand government and regulatory approval.

 

Following completion, Beach’s interest in PEP50119 will be 30%, with operator OMV holding a 52.93% interest, and Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd holding 17.07%.

 

The PEP50119 exploration permit contains the large Tawhaki prospect and other leads. Tawhaki is a basement drape structural trap with up to 470 square kilometres (181 square miles) under structural closure.

 

The prospect is defined by modern, high-quality 3D seismic data and interpreted to have Cretaceous reservoirs of similar age and quality to the excellent sandstones encountered in Caravel-1, about 130 kilometres (81 miles) to the north in PEP38264 (Beach 37.5% and operator).

 

The Tawhaki-1 well is planned to be drilled in early calendar 2020 by the semi-submersible COSLProspector as part of a larger OMV-led drilling campaign.

 

Beach CEO Matt Kay said: “…Tawhaki is one of three frontier exploration wells Beach will participate in over the next 18 months, the others being Wherry to the north of Tawhaki and Ironbark in the Carnarvon basin…”

 

Source: Offshore Magazine