Apache awarded Western Australia offshore permit

Dec. 18, 2014
A day after reporting its planned divestment of Western Australian and Canadian assets to Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Apache Corp. has been awarded a new exploration permit in the latest round of the Australian Government’s offshore licensing.

After reporting its planned divestment of Western Australian and Canadian assets to Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Apache Corp. has been awarded a new exploration permit in the latest round of the Australian Government’s offshore licensing (OGJ Online, Dec. 16, 2014).

The block, WA-505-P, lies in the Roebuck Basin about 200 km north of its significant Phoenix South-1 oil discovery made earlier this year.

Apache’s work commitments include $9.2 million (Aus.) spent on about 400 sq km of 3D seismic and related technical analysis in the first 3-year term of the license. The secondary work program between years four and six includes the commitment to drill a $20.4 million exploration well.

The bidding process for this permit began prior to Apache’s head office decision to exit many of its Australian operations as well as those elsewhere in the world, and there is speculation that Woodside may be interested in adding this latest permit to its acquisition list. However, it is also significant that Apache did not include the Phoenix South-1 block in the sale.

Looking at the Government’s latest bid round overall, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane announced a total of $660 million has been pledged in new offshore exploration areas.

Other successful bidders were Statoil ASA in WA-506-P on the deepwater margin of the North West Shelf, guaranteeing $50 million in the first 3 years and $216 million in the second 3 years; Liberty Petroleum in Vic/P70 in the southeast margin of the Gippsland Basin, guaranteeing $81.3 in the first 3 years, including two wells; and Santos Ltd.-Origin Energy Ltd. in NT/P85 in the Bonaparte basin, guaranteeing a spend of $28.3 million in the first term and $36 million, including one well in the second.

Odyssey Oil and Gas-Black Swan Resources won WA-507-P in the Northern Carnarvon basin with a guarantee of $2.25 million, while Pathfinder Energy was awarded WA-508-P and WA-509-P in the Browse basin for guaranteed expenditure of $2.1 million and $10.6 million, respectively.