Central closes Amadeus basin deal
Sydney-listed Central Petroleum has completed the sale of 50% interests in its Amadeus basin assets to New Zealand Oil & Gas (Nzog) and Cue Energy, it said on October 1.
The A$85mn ($66mn) deal, which was announced in May, involves Central's Mereenie, Palm Valley and Dingo oil and gas fields in Northern Territory’s Amadeus basin. It is expected to result in an after-tax accounting profit net to Central of about A$35mn on the sale.
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In the Mereenie field, Central will have a 25% interest, Nzog 17.5%, Cue 7.5% and Macquarie 50%. In the Palm Valley field, Central will own 50%, Nzog will have 35% and Cue 15%. The ownership structure in the Dingo field is the same as that of Palm Valley. Central will remain as operator and manage gas sales from the assets on behalf of Nzog and Cue under a joint marketing agreement.
“The injection of new capital through the transaction has already resulted in an increase in field capacity at Mereenie, with the recompletions and two new production wells to be online over the next couple of weeks,” Central CEO Leon Devaney said.
“With a major two-well exploration drilling programme scheduled to commence shortly and conceptual planning already underway for appraisal of the Stairway at Mereenie, we are looking forward to successful results from this new phase of growth in the Amadeus,” he added.