Santos-operated Oz Beehive Seismic Exploration Completed
The Santos-operated 3D seismic survey over the giant Beehive prospect offshore north-west Australia has been completed and Santos and/or Total have the option to drill within six months of receipt of the processed seismic data, Australia-listed junior Melbana Energy said August 14.
“Beehive is a new play type in this basin and has recently been assessed by Independent Expert McDaniel & Associates (Canada) to contain prospective resources of up to 1.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which provides an exciting value creation opportunity for Melbana’s shareholders,” Melbana’s CEO Robert Zammit said.
“We look forward to reviewing the data obtained in conjunction with Santos and Total in due course and to notification of their position regarding exercising their options to fully fund the first exploration well,” he said.
The survey area was extended by about 100 kilometres2, or roughly 16%, to provide coverage over the newly identified lead, Egret, that is partially within the boundary of WA-448-P. The extension came at no extra cost to Melbana, the company said.
The area of the survey is located in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, about 225 km west-southwest from Darwin and 65 km from the closest land at Cape Domett in Western Australia.
Total and Santos have an option, together or individually, to acquire a direct 80% participating interest in the permit in return for fully funding the costs of all activities until completion of the first well. In the event of a commercial discovery Melbana will repay carried funding from its share of cash flow from the Beehive field. It’ll have no re-payment obligations in the event there is no commercial discovery and development.
“Beehive is located close to several existing facilities including Ichthys project and Blacktip field and pipeline offering several options for future gas monetization,” Melbana said.