Japan Energy farms into Timor Sea block

Aug. 4, 2009
Japan Energy Corp. has farmed into Joint Petroleum Development Area Permit 06-103 between Timor Leste and Australia in the Timor Sea.

Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent

MELBOURNE, Aug. 4 -- Japan Energy Corp. has farmed into Joint Petroleum Development Area Permit 06-103 between Timor Leste and Australia in the Timor Sea.

The company has taken a 15% interest from Oilex Ltd., Perth, which has retained a 10% interest in the block.

Oilex will be refunded part of its previous costs as well as future funding for its remaining 10% share of costs of two commitment wells up to an agreed cap. Oilex will remain operator of the permit.

The permit is seen as prospective because of ENI’s discovery of Kitan oil field nearby and the Kuda Tasi and Jahal discoveries farther north by BHP Petroleum in the 1990s.

Oilex also points to Woodside’s Laminaria/Corallina oil fields to the west and ConocoPhillips’s Bayu-Undan gas-condensate field to the south.

Oilex hopes to secure a rig to drill the first two prospects on permit 06-103 during the second half of this year.

The deal with Japan Energy is conditional on an extension to the third year of the production sharing contract as well as government approvals.

Other companies in the block are Global Energy with 25%, GSPC with 25%, and Bharat Petroleum Resources with 25%.