Australia: Cliff Head field could produce beyond 2030s
Australian oil company Triangle Energy has identified exploration prospects near its Cliff Head field off Australia which could hold a prospective volume of 29 million barrels.
This is, according to Triangle, over 80 percent increase compared with a previous estimate of 15.7 million barrels. The Cliff Head Oil Field (Cliff Head) is located ten kilometres off the coast of Western Australia, at a water depth of 15-20 metres.
It was the first commercial oil discovery developed in the offshore Perth Basin.
Triangle Energy said that its recently completed Static Model reveals up to 29 million barrels (unrisked, best estimate, evaluation date 2 July 2018) of prospective oil initially-in-place (OIIP), representing 10.2 million barrels of prospective resource in near-field exploration targets within the Cliff Head oil field licence area, located in the Perth Basin.
These “near field” prospects are located in close proximity to Cliff Head’s discovered, producing reservoirs. The development of these volumes would therefore likely take advantage of existing pipelines and infrastructure as opposed to requiring a costly installation of new infrastructure, Triangle said.
Offshore exploration programme in 2019
Prospective OIIP volumes are in addition to OIIP in the discovered, already producing Cliff Head reservoirs. It is intended that OIIP in these discovered reservoirs, along with associated reserve and contingent resource values, will be reported once dynamic modelling is complete later in the third quarter of 2018, Triangle added.
According to Triangle’s Managing Director, Rob Towner, in addition to the immediate production enhancement opportunities and a potential development project in the Main Cliff Head discovered field, this near-field exploration potential which could lead to a multi-phased field development programme, potentially recovering a further 10.2 million barrels (unrisked, best estimate) and extending field life into the 2030’s and beyond.
The near-field exploration programme will be executed in conjunction with Cliff Head development activity, where an integrated Cliff Head development-exploration offshore programme is expected to be put in place for 2019.
First oil production from the Cliff Head field started in May 2006. Oil production from the Cliff Head field is produced via an unmanned offshore platform connected to the Arrowsmith onshore processing plant by twin 14-kilometre production and injection pipelines. Crude oil is trucked to BP at their Kwinana refinery south of Perth.
Source: Offshore Energy Today