Tap Oil, Eni Surrender West Oz Lease

Tap Oil and its joint venture partner and operator, Eni, have agreed to jointly surrender their interests in WA-34-R lease offshore Western Australia, Tap Oil said January 6.

WA-34-R is a retention lease in the offshore Bonaparte Basin, Western Australia which contains the Prometheus/Rubicon gas fields discovered in June and December 2000 respectively. Tap Bonaparte, a subsidiary of Tap Oil, holds a 12% participating interest.

The WA-34-R retention lease was extended for a second five year period in 2015 until 2020.

“During this period, the joint venture partners, led by operator, ENI Australia, evaluated a range of commercialisation opportunities for the Prometheus/Rubicon gas fields,”  Tap Oil said. “Having considered all realistic commercialisation opportunities under a range of economic assumptions, the joint venture partners concluded the returns on potential developments were unattractive against the costs and risks.”

The National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) has confirmed the proposed surrender, which was finalised on December 24 2019.