UK Junior Loses Oz Farm-in Deal

UK-based Doriemus has been unable to farm into an exploration block in western Australia’s Canning basin after failing to secure funding, the company said on August 5.

Australia’s Rey Resources, the present operator of licence EP487, has cancelled a farm-out agreement with Doriemus, the latter said in an ASX stock exchange filing. It did so after Doriemus failed to obtain funding to drill an exploration well by a July 31 deadline.

The 4,000-metre planned well, set to be spudded in the third quarter, was to target the Butler prospect, estimated by Rey to hold 170 trillion ft³ in-place and 28 trillion ft³ recoverable gas. In return for funding the work, Doriemus was to secure a 50% stake in EP487.

Doriemus noted that the farm-in deal’s termination would have no impact on a separate agreement with Rey, under which it will gain a 50% share of licence L15 in return for financing the development of the West Kora oilfield. The project will mark Doriemus’ first foray into Australia’s upstream, with the company’s current operations confined to the UK and Greenland.