Bass Strait Oil Company Limited has sought and received approval from the National Offshore Titles Authority (NOPTA) for a 12 month suspension and extension of the work program and permit term for its wholly owned Vic/P68 permit located in the prolific Gippsland basin, offshore Australia.
Bass says that the permit is currently in Year 3 of the 6 year term. The Year 3 work program, which entails acquiring 225 square kilometres of 3D seismic, now expires November 3, 2016. Bass had sought the variation of the work program for this permit to allow an aggregation of seismic work with other operators to reduce the cost of the survey and for the survey to occur in the normal summer acquisition window offshore southern Australia.
According to Bass, its technical team is nearing completion of its technical review quantifying the prospectivity of the company’s Gippsland basin permits. Importantly, the continuing process has identified a significant gas exploration play in VIC/P68 within the Emperor Formation which is similar to and on trend with the Longtom gas field, Bass said.
Furthermore, Bass has identified a number of follow up oil targets on trend with Bass’s wholly owned Leatherjacket oil discovery contained within the Vic/P68 permit. Leatherjacket was drilled by Esso in 1986 and discovered an oil column of over 25 metres in the highly productive upper LaTrobe group.
Bass Strait Oil Company Executive Director, Tino Guglielmo , said: “The grant of the work program extension not only reduces the company’s near term funding obligations, but provides the opportunity to mature these play types, prospects and leads which are likely to attract interest from potential farminees wanting low risk and lower cost opportunities to enter the east coast gas market.”
“The Company remains of the view that its asset position in the Gippsland basin will become increasingly more relevant as the evaluation of the portfolio continues and domestic markets for east coast gas, in particular, seeks new and emerging gas prospects close to markets.”
[mappress mapid=”2735″]