By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Sept. 20 -- In its first joint operation under a new strategic alliance with Novus Petroleum Ltd. of Sydney, Australia, Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. Ltd. (MOECO), Tokyo, agreed to take a 15% working interest in a Padre Island development project near Corpus Christi, Tex., from operator BNP Petroleum Corp. of Texas.
Novus obtained 30% interest in that project in May (OGJ Online, May 17, 2001). With MOECO's entry, BNP retains 55% of the project.
Earlier this month, MOECO and Mitsui & Co. Ltd., Tokyo, acquired 23.9 million shares, or slightly more than 13%, of Novus stock to form a strategic alliance for pursuing acquisition opportunities. That makes the Mitsui group the largest single holder of Novus' stock. The two Mitsui companies plan to nominate one director to Novus' board.
The Padre Island project encompasses more than 1,300 sq km -- equivalent in size to about 55 offshore blocks -- that includes onshore areas of Padre Island and adjacent waters in the shallow lagoon and the Gulf of Mexico. So far, 21 fields have been developed in the area, with cumulative production of 1.7 tcf of natural gas. A gas-gathering pipeline system exists on the island and within the project area, connected into the gas distribution grid of South Texas.
The companies also acquired 3D seismic data over much of the area and plan to explore for both shallow and deep reservoirs and to exploit shut in gas fields.
Novus nearly tripled its reserves over the last 5 years, with operations in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, and North America.
Mitsui and MOECO have large portfolios of upstream oil and gas assets through their LNG and Thailand offshore gas project, respectively, on which they want to build.
