Ann: Cornea-3 Progress Report No. 3 , page-2

  1. 8,762 Posts.
    lightbulb Created with Sketch. 537
    From upstreamonline.com
    2 week subscription is free.

    RUSSELL SEARANCKE Wellington Friday, 11 December, 2009, 02:12 GMT

    Well puts Cornea back in the game

    Partners set to drill new appraisal probe at NW Australian prospect

    An oil discovery with a history in north-west Australias hydrocarbon-rich Browse basin will get a new lease of life next week when its Australian owners spud the Cornea-3 appraisal well, which the partners believe is a low-risk oil play.

    Operator Exoil said it expected to take delivery of the semi-
submersible drilling rig Songa Venus on about 8 December and spud the Cornea-3 well on 14 
December.

    Exoil described the appraisal well as a low-risk oil play in a known accumulation.

    Shell discovered Cornea in Block WA-342-P in the late 1990s and, at the time, believed the 
accumulation to be substantial.

    However, a subsequent multi-well appraisal programme failed to prove this and Shell later 
surrendered the area back to the state government following talks that centered on the Anglo-Dutch supermajor not meeting its 
drilling commitments in the 
Cornea area.

    The acreage lay dormant for several years until mid-2003, when it was re-released by the state government and awarded to a consortium of privately-owned Australian companies.

    The consortium is made up of Exoil with 29.75%, Batavia Oil & Gas on 29.75%, Australian Oil & Gas Corporation on 17%, Gascorp Australia with 15% and Goldsborough on 8.5%.

    Exoil is understood to be 
operator, while publicly-listed Moby Oil & Gas has signed a farm-in agreement with Exoil and Goldsborough to earn a 22.375% stake in the project.

    Moby chairman Geoff Albers said success at Cornea-3 would provide Moby with the scope for being part of a future oilfield 
development.

    Contingent oil reserves have been independently assessed by RPS Energy and put at a low 
estimate of 13 million barrels and a high of 85 million barrels, said Moby.

    Exoil said Shells early exploration wells Cornea-1, 1B and 2 are considered to have established the presence of a 25-metre gas 
column and a 22.2-metre oil 
column in the Albian sandstones of the Jamieson formation.

    The field is a large drape 
feature. It accumulated 22 to 
24 degrees API oil derived from 
Early Cretaceous, Echuca Shoals formation and possibly Late Jurassic source rocks in the 
Heywood Graben, said Exoil.

    The field is split into three main structural components Cornea South and Cornea 
Central, both with gas and 
oil, and Cornea North with 
gas and no underlying oil 
presence.

    An official with the Western Australian state government 
said the partners would most likely have a field development 
on their hands if they could prove up between 20 million and 30 
million barrels of recoverable oil.
 
watchlist Created with Sketch. Add MOG (ASX) to my watchlist

Currently unlisted public company.

arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.