3D Oil Limited is pleased to advise it has been awarded a new exploration permit, T/49P in the offshore Otway Basin of Tasmania, bid on in 2012 Australian Offshore Gazettal round.
T/49P covers an area of 4,960 km2 in water depths generally no greater than 100m. The permit is lightly explored covered by a broad grid of 2d seismic data of varying vintages and has two early exploration wells.
The Minimum Guaranteed Work Program is set out below. It is the intention of TDO to seek a farmin partner to the permit T/49P lies adjacent to the Thylacine and Geographe gas fields which have a combined gas
in place (“GIP”) of over 2 TCF while the former is the largest gas discovery in the Otway
Basin.
The evaluation of T/49P undertaken by TDO included a review of the existing seismic data
and a full petroleum systems analysis. A number of strong leads were identified with
combined GIP estimate of over 5 TCF. A petroleum system is interpreted active within and
proven adjacent to T/49P.
TDO is of the opinion that the commercial attractiveness of exploring for gas in eastern
Australia has been boosted by a strongly improving gas pricing environment for producers.
In recent years, eastern Australian retail gas prices have begun to increase and pressures
exist that are expected to consolidate these increases, including from such factors as:
• Exposure to international pricing through LNG exports
• The unwinding of major low cost, long term gas contracts
Market consensus indicates gas pricing of A$7 to A$9 per gigajoule (GJ) by 2015/16 with a
likelihood of a short-term peak beyond this range. This compares to A$3.50 to A$4/GJ in
recent years in eastern Australia.
Several recent gas supply deals provide evidence that this increasing price environment is
now being established in eastern Australia.
