The Perth-based company today said the newly acquired leases comprised 22,438 acres (9080 hectares) on trend from existing acreage, taking its total acreage position to more than 27,400 acres.

Odyssey’s working interest in the new leases would be 30%, consistent with the company’s recent move to a 30% working interest in the original 5023-acre North Helper Gas Project (NHGP) area.

“The new acreage gives Odyssey and its joint venture partners a dominant position in the Ferron tight sand and coal bed methane play being exploited at North Helper, north of the substantial Helper and Drunkards Wash fields that together have produced in excess of 600 billion cubic feet of gas since the early 1990s,” said Odyssey managing director Mark O’Clery.

The primary objective of Odyssey’s exploration and appraisal activities in this northern area would be the Ferron sands and coals. Secondary objectives would include the Mancos Shale, currently being appraised by the Cordingly Canyon 15-5 well in North Helper, as well as a series of shallower objectives that came into play as the Uinta Basin stratigraphy thickened and the Ferron formation deepened to the north.

Additional objectives in the new acreage included the Cretaceous Blackhawk sands and coals; the shallower Cretaceous and Tertiary Mesaverde, Wasatch and Fort Union formations that were being exploited in acreage to the east of the new licenses; and the deeper Cretaceous Dakota formation, which formed a secondary objective in the original 5023-acre project area.

O’Clery said the net cost to the company of the new leases was $US67.50 per acre, for a total of $US1.51 million ($A2.03 million). This would be funded from working capital.