Odyssey recently entered into an agreement to acquire a 15% working interest in the North Helper Gas project, a development in Carbon Country, Utah operated by Marion Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed Carpenter Pacific Resources Limited. The offer is intended to fund this purchase and provide ongoing working capital.
The North Helper Gas Project is principally a CBM development, located along the northern edge of the Helper Field on the same Ferron CBM trend as the substantial Drunkards Wash Field.
More than 540 BCF of gas has been produced to date from Drunkards Wash and over 66 BCF of gas has been produced from the Helper Field.
The North Helper gas project comprises leases and farmout agreements covering about 5,000 acres. So far two wells have been drilled – Kenilworth Railroad-1 and 2.
In late 2005, Carpenter Pacific intends to complete these wells and over the next two years drill a further eight wells. If commercial flow rates are achieved, an agreement with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is in place to sell gas through their existing infrastructure.
Carpenter Pacific has said that up to 20 wells could ultimately recover about 40-50 billion cubic feet of gas from the project.
In addition, further geological targets are available, including the coals of the Blackhawk Formation at locations further north in the area of mutual interest and the possibility of deep gas charged sands, most likely to be in the Dakota Formation.
With advances in drilling and completion technology, especially related to shale, the Mancos Shale is also considered a further potential target.
In addition to the 3,000 leased acres, Marion Energy has negotiated to farm-in to adjacent properties held by Stone Energy (about 940 acres) and Westport/Bayless (about 1,080 acres).
Odyssey Energy chairman Ian Middlemas is a chartered accountant and was a Normandy Mining senior group executive for about 10 years.
Non executive director Mark O’Clery is a Petroleum Geologist, specialising in exploration and production, with more than18 years experience in the international oil and gas business. He has held technical, commercial, operational and managerial roles with several large international companies including WMC Petroleum, British Gas E&P, Ampolex, Mobil E&P, Fusion Oil and Gas and OMV.
The offer closes on November 15. Odyssey’s broker is Argonaut Securities.
