Perth-based Empire said on Friday that the WA Department of Industry and Resources had granted Empire subsidiary Gulliver Productions the EP-448 licence for an initial six-year period, effective June 16.

Empire said EP-448 was located in the central and western parts of the onshore basin and had an area extent of about 16,800 square kilometres.

The permit is 200-400km south of Broome and 300-500km east of Port Hedland.

The potential reservoir objective at the Ordovician Nita Formation was sealed by thick, red bed and salt sequences at the base of the Carribuddy Group.

Managing director Craig Marshall said Empire expected these to be excellent seals in the permit area.

Hydrocarbon sources were the thick, organic-rich marine shales in the Ordovician Goldwyer Formation – reportedly the richest source rocks in WA and immediately under the potential Nita Formation reservoirs.

Based on geochemical studies, they were interpreted to be thermally mature for oil generation in the targeted prospective part of the permit, he added.

Seismic reprocessing was planned to enhance seismic quality at the Nita formation level and to bring out the character of the algal reservoir rocks to define algal build-up structures for drilling.

EP-448 partners are operator Empire Oil & Gas (through Gulliver Productions) with a 25% stake, Maneroo Oil (45%), Indigo Oil (20%), Kjirt Exploration Services (10%).