UIL and Eneabba have agreed binding terms to consolidate their respective Perth Basin permits, creating a larger, more diverse Perth Basin explorer, with some 700,000 acres under licence, one of the largest holdings in this highly prospective exploration and producing region.
The Ocean Hill gas development is likely to be the centrepiece of the expanded UIL in the near term, with Eneabba to sell its two oil and gas subsidiaries. It will retain the Centauri power licences, the project the company was founded on a decade ago.
The offer to Eneabba shareholders is for the issue of receiving one UIL share for every 5.5 shares in Eneabba, plus a further 35 million shares, or one extra UIL share for every 8.6 Eneabba shares held, based on any success from the planned Ocean Hill-2 appraisal well.
The board of UIL will welcome ex-AWE executive Garry Marsden to the board and Eneabba's Barnaby Egerton‐Warburton to the UIL executive team.
The pair have previously shared ownership of EP 447, and will now hold 100% of that permit, which hosts the Walyering tight gas field.
The pair consider Ocean Hill to be one of the most highly prospective acreage positions in the Perth Basin, which is similar to Empire Oil & Gas' Gingin gas field and the Red Gully gas-condensate project.
Ocean Hill-1 was drilled in 1991 by SAGASCO and tested a substantial structure to a depth of 3840m within the Jurassic Cattamarra Coal Measures.
The well encountered 800m of gas shows in the Cadda Formation and Cattamarra Coal Measures, with 100m of net pay calculated.
A drill stem test flowed at 700,000 cubic feet per day and 17 barrels of condensate unstimulated.
DeGoyler and MacNaughton has assessed the mean 2C Contingent Resource of 360Bcf and 1.191MMbbl of condensate and a best estimate prospective resource of 809Bcf for EPA90.
UIL chairman Simon Hickey said the merger with Eneabba was "exciting" given the proximity of infrastructure to the field and the fundamentally strong and highly priced Western Australia gas market.
Completion of the transaction is subject to certain terms and conditions, including Eneabba becoming the owner of EPA90, which it is agreeing to acquire from Finder Exploration, and shareholder approval.
