Armour Energy Ltd., Brisbane, let a contract to Pinemont Technologies Australia Pty Ltd. to fly the largest airborne geophysical program ever undertaken in the Northern Territory of Australia.
The 20,000-sq km survey, scheduled to begin early July, will overfly most of Armour’s five exploration permits (171, 174, 176, 190, 191) plus one exploration application area (193) in McArthur and Beetaloo basins.
Work will cover the Batten trough and fault zone along with a conventional oil and gas fairway encompassing Coxco dolomite and McArthur and Tawallah group prospects and structural closures, the company said.
The permits contain a number of leads and prospects within four geological horizons adjacent to, or directly overlying, deeper parts of McArthur and Beetaloo basins that are proven hydrocarbon kitchens.
Armour has made four discoveries in a five-well program in both conventional and unconventional zones and has identified 193 conventional leads and prospects along this fairway. The airborne survey is intended to high-grade these existing prospects and identify additional leads.
Once the survey data is processed and interpreted it will help to mitigate risks associated with potential hydrocarbon migration pathways and hydrocarbon reservoir charge, Amour said.
The survey data is expected to take just over a month to acquire. Results will be available from September and be used to target the company’s next exploration phase as well as complement the development program for the Glyde conventional gas discovery in the southeastern part of EP 171 close to the boundary with EP190. Armour recently applied for a retention license and aims to have first commercial production by end 2022.
