Oz Vintage Closes Beach Deal
Australia-listed Vintage Energy has completed the acquisition of 100% stake in Beach Energy’s permit in the Bonaparte Basin, Northern Territory, it said February 14.
On January 25, Vintage received the ministerial consent, the final condition precedent of the sale and purchase agreement, for the acquisition of EP 126 in the Bonaparte Basin. “The transaction was successfully completed on January 31, transferring the title, operatorship and 100% working interest in EP 126 to Vintage,” the company said.
Vintage said this deal is a low-cost entry into a 6,700km2 permit that has exploration potential in multiple play types. Several wells have already flowed gas across the onshore Bonaparte Basin with oil shows in wells and surface bitumen seeps also identified in the basin and within the permit, it added.
The company has already undertaken initial evaluation work. “Processing and modelling of EP 126 airborne geophysical data has been completed and calibrated with data from the Cullen-1 well, which was drilled by Beach in 2014,” Vinatge said.
Vintage has commenced preparing the requisite regulatory requirements to operate and undertake on-ground activities in the permit. An Environmental Management Plan has been submitted to Department of Primary Industries and Resources (DPIR), as part of this process.
“Flow testing Cullen-1 is planned to be the first on-ground activity which will investigate the possibility of commercial gas flows from the well. Any encouragement from this testing will likely lead to seismic acquisition and further drilling,” the company said.