Australia has invited bids for 14 oil and gas exploration permits off Victoria, Western Australia, and South Australia.
The mines departments of the respective Australian states will accept bids through Oct. 29.
Included are seven areas in Bonaparte, Canning, and Carnarvon basins off Western Australia, five areas in the Duntroon and Great Australian Bight basins off South Australia, and two areas in the Otway basin off Victoria.
One parcel, Area W90-3 in the Bonaparte basin, adjoins an area that contains the Petrel gas discovery.
PETREL AREA
Australia's Ministry of Primary Industries & Energy said Petrel gas field likely extends into the undrilled Area W90-3, which will be released for cash bids. The other 13 parcels are offered under the modified work program bidding system introduced in December 1985.
Under a special prospecting authority, Elf Aquitaine Exploration Pty. Ltd. in 1989 shot a seismic survey on Area W90-3, which lies in less than 328 ft of water 186 miles southwest of Darwin.
Petrel gas field is a broad, elongate, northwesterly trending anticline just east of Area W90-3 with main gas reservoirs in late Permian fluvio-deltaic sands.
Areas W90-1 and W90-2 are about 300 miles west-northwest of Darwin in the Timor Sea in 650-1,300 ft of water. One wildcat, 1 Tamar, was drilled in the permit areas and encountered no significant hydrocarbon shows.
Areas W90-4, W90-5, W90-6, and W90-7 have 10 wells, none encountering significant hydrocarbons.
SOUTHERN PARCELS
One fourth of Area S90-1 and one third of Area S90-2 are in more than 650 ft of water, and nearly all of Areas S90-3, S90-4, and S90-5 are in 650-9,800 ft of water.
One dry hole was drilled in relatively shallow water on Area S90-1. Recent work by the South Australia Department of Mines & Energy and Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources suggests that traps in the thicker sedimentary sequences of the Duntroon basin's deepwater upper continental slope may have potential for hydrocarbon generation and trapping.
Two dry holes were drilled on S90-2, and three on S90-3, S90-4, and S90-5.
In the Otway basin area adjoining Victoria, three dry holes were drilled on Area V90-1 and one on V90-2. A noncommercial find on Area V90-1, 1A Pecten, flowed 145 Mcfd of dry gas from upper Cretaceous Waarre sandstone in 1968.
Seismic data are available on all of the blocks offered.
Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.