PEL 100
This permit is located approximately 100 km north of Moomba in the South Australian Cooper Basin. It covers an area of 594 km2 on the Deramookoo Shelf adjacent to the Patchawarra Trough, which hosts nearby oil and gas discoveries including Cuttapirrie, Telopea, Keleary and Tarragon. Objectives in the permit are sandstone reservoirs located in the Birkhead, Hutton, Poolowanna and Tinchoo Formations. The Poolowanna and Tinchoo Formations are the most prospective with oil being produced at the nearby Keleary, Telopea and Tarragon fields.
The permit was granted on 6 March 2003 for five years, and following variations the anniversary of the fifth year is now 6 May 2008. The work program included acquisition of seismic and four wells. Todate, seismic and four wells have been drilled; Acacia Grove-1 (April 2004), Fairbridge-1 (Dec 2005) and Strickland Bay-1 ( Jan 2006), and Cleansweep-1 (November 2007). Cleansweep-1 is a new field oil discovery which was put onstream in January 2008. Initial production is approximately 120 barrels of oil per day via artificial lift. Early Production commenced using Stuart’s Modular Production Facility and a low cost rental pumping system. The pumping capacity of the facility will be upgraded once the reservoir performance of the basal Birkhead Formation is established. The well completion design and the modular nature of the facility enable rapid upgrades at low cost. Production rates will be monitored before completing an assessment of potential reserves.
In October 2006 Cooper Energy, as operator, presented an interpretation of geological and geophysical data in which they identified two drillable prospects in the eastern portion of the permit and an additional fifteen leads. The two prospects have a combined P90 recoverable reserves estimate of 2.7 million barrels and a P10 recoverable reserves estimate of 14.36 million barrels.
The Cleansweep-1 oil field significantly upgrades the potential of the PEL 100 region, especially along the edge of the Deramookoo Shelf. It is expected, following this discovery, that the Joint Venture will embark on an extensive exploration seismic program in this area prior to making further decisions to drill oil exploration wells.