Beach Energy Ltd., Adelaide, has signed an agreement with onshore Perth basin partner Mitsui E&P Australia to move to a 50/50 ownership of production licences L11 and L22 containing Beharra Springs gas field as well as in nearby exploration permit EP320 and pipeline licence PL18.
The previous ownership for these permits was Beach 67% and Mitsui 33%.
Beach will retain operatorship under the new arrangements which are scheduled for completion during the next 2 months. The transaction has an effective date of Jan. 1.
Mitsui remains the operator of licences L1 and L2 containing Waitsia field.
Beach managing director Matt Kay said moving to a 50/50 ownership is a natural progression of its relationship with Mitsui since Mitsui acquired AWE in early 2018 and moved into the Perth basin.
Updating the joint operations in the basin Kay said that Beach and Mitsui have signed a gas sales agreement with Alinta Energy for the supply of up to 20 terajoules/day of gas from the Waitsia field. Beginning July 1, 2020, the contract will last 4.5 years.
The Waitsia JV has approved the expansion of the Xyris gas processing facility to 20 terajoules/day (Waitsia Stage 1 expansion) from the existing 10 terajoules/day capacity (Waitsia Stage 1).
Beach and Mitsui are moving towards further expansion of the Waitsia production facility (Waitsia Stage 2) with front-end engineering and design now complete and tenders for new construction work in progress.
Development options include construction of a new 100-250 terajoules/day gas processing facility and the drilling and connection of additional wells to deliver the required gas.
Stage 1 expansion will incorporate a large diameter pipeline connecting Xyris facility to the Dampier-Bunbury gas trunkline. The pipeline will have capacity for Waitsia Stage 2 production volumes.
On the exploration front, Beharra Springs Deep-1 well in L11 is scheduled to spud in the next few weeks targeting the Kingia and Highcliff Sandstone formations—the primary reservoirs in Waitsia field.
In EP 320 the JV will run a 3D seismic survey later this year to acquire data over a number of prospects and leads in the Kingia and Highcliff formations.
