Rampart Energy gains acquisition of Australian exploration asset
Rampart Energy gains acquisition of Australian exploration asset
ADELAIDE, Australia -- Rampart Energy has secured the rights to an 80% working interest, as operator, in the newly released exploration permit WA-507-P, located within the prolific Northern Carnarvon basin, off the Northwest Shelf of Australia.
This new asset signifies a change of strategy for Rampart, aimed at developing a new and balanced portfolio of exploration assets, on appropriate commercial terms. As the first addition to the new portfolio, block WA-507-P represents a long term, low cost opportunity with significant potential upside.
Block WA-507-P covers an area of 1622 sq. km over the Exmouth Plateau, some 300 km offshore Western Australia, in water depths of 1000 to 1500 m.
The area is covered by an existing, high quality 3D seismic dataset, which reveals the presence of a number of large structures, ranging from 60 sq. km to 280 sq. km in area. These structures have potential to contain significant quantities of gas and condensate in the Triassic Mungaroo reservoir. Similar Mungaroo structural traps contain much of the gas condensate discovered to date on the Northwest Shelf.
The block is located in the outboard part of the Mungaroo delta system, where the reservoir is likely to be thick and the interbedded shales are thought to have been deposited in a more marine environment, giving potential for oil to be trapped in the structures.
The WA-507-P permit carries a firm commitment to conduct three years of geological and geophysical studies, and license the existing 3D seismic data (at a cost of $1.3 million, payable within twelve months of assignment of the working interest to Rampart).
A discretionary well is required to be drilled by year six. Rampart anticipates significant exploration drilling activity in neighbouring licensed permits ahead of the contingent well.
An adjacent permit (WA-506-P) has just recently been awarded to Statoil, with a commitment to acquire 2,000 km of new 2D seismic data and a 3,500 sq. km 3D seismic survey. This is a firm commitment of $50 million expenditure over the first three years, with drilling and seismic in years four to six, totaling a further $215 million. This significant investment by Statoil reflects well on the prospectivity of this part of the Exmouth Plateau.
Rampart is partnered in the permit by Black Swan Resources, which owns the remaining 20% interest in the block, and will be carried by Rampart for the first three years of the permit. Assignment of the 80% working interest to Rampart is subject to approval by the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator, which will be confirmed in due course.
Rampart secured the rights to the 80% working interest through an assignment agreement with an unrelated third party. Rampart has negotiated various success-based payments to the third party, and to the provider of the existing seismic data, based on achieving certain project milestones. This has enabled Rampart to minimise the cost of entry to the asset, achieving an appropriate commercial structure with mostly contingent financial commitments.
