Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, June 30 -- Flex LNG of Norway has entered an option agreement to acquire control of Jersey-based Minza Oil & Gas, which holds a 100% interest in permit JPDA 06-101A in the Joint Petroleum Development Area between East Timor and Australia.
The permit contains the one-well Chuditch gas discovery made by Shell in 1998. Flex is a floating LNG specialist working toward commercializing gas discoveries by Rift Oil of the UK in Papua New Guinea with a floating liquefaction plant in the Gulf of Papua. It believes the Timor Sea find could hold enough gas to support a floating LNG project.
The company plans to bring in one or two partners with upstream exploration and development experience to appraise and develop the field, which holds an estimated 700 bcf of gas with minor carbon dioxide content. There would also be a program to explore nearby prospects believed to have Mesozoic and Permian reservoir potential at depths of 3,000 m subsea. Water depths in the region are 100 m or less.
The company has four vessels incorporating liquefaction units under construction in South Korea.
