Cooper Energy Completes Stake Purchase in Sole Gas Field Onshore Victoria
Cooper Energy has completed the acquisition of a 50 percent interest in the Sole gas field and Orbost gas plant.
The deal was announced on 15 December 2014 and the project has entered Front End Engineering and Design (FEED).
Completion of the acquisition has resulted in Cooper Energy booking 2C Contingent Resources of 106PJ of sales gas, the company said on Monday. The VIC/RL3 joint venture, which comprises Cooper Energy and Santos, will now work to completion of FEED for a Final Investment Decision (FID) in the September quarter 2016.
Gas market offtake contracts and finance for project construction will be developed in parallel with the FEED in readiness for a likely FID in the September quarter of 2016.
Cooper Energy has assessed the Sole gas field to contain a Contingent Resource (2C) of 211 PJ of sales gas (100% joint venture). Whilst project development and costing will be determined by the FEED process, the field is expected to provide gas supply of approx. 25 PJ per annum over 8 years after commissioning in late 2018. Gas produced from Sole will be transported by pipeline to the Orbost gas plant onshore Victoria, from where it can be distributed to eastern Australian gas customers via the Eastern Gas Pipeline.
The FEED phase is budgeted to cost approx. $27 million, which Cooper Energy will fund 100% as part of its commitment to pay the first $50 million of project costs. Cooper Energy’s costs through to FID stage are fully funded.
The addition of Sole has more than doubled Cooper Energy’s Gippsland Basin gas resources which now total 183 PJ of 2C Contingent Resources (comprising Sole and the nearby BMG gas and liquids resource). The total gas held by the Gippsland Basin joint ventures in which Cooper Energy participates amounts to 330PJ at the 2C Contingent Resources level1, which together with the Orbost Gas Plant, is expected to feature in new supply to eastern Australian energy markets from late 2018.
The Sole field is located 65 kms from the Orbost gas plant, onshore Victoria and 35 kms from Cooper Energy’s BMG gas and liquids resource.