Bounty today lifted its probable recoverable gas reserve estimate for the field to 1.4 trillion cubic feet. The company also believes it has additional possible recoverable reserves totalling 2.4Tcf.
"We have reprocessed all seismic data in the permit and re-analysed the data from a number of exploration wells in the area, including the 1976 Toroa-1 well, initially drilled by Hunt International Petroleum, which we believe intersected hydrocarbons but was unable to test due to mechanical problems," Bounty's managing director, Tom Fontaine, said.
"While we are still finalising our studies, the preliminary work indicates the existence of considerable probable and possible gas and condensate reserves at Toroa and we're very optimistic about working the field. First-pass mapping in the rest of the permit has confirmed the presence of numerous prospects and leads with substantial oil and gas potential."
Bounty holds a 35% stake in the permit. The joint venture partners are Hardman Resources with 55% and Albatross Energy with 10%. The partners hope to test PEP38215 with a well late next year.
Meanwhile, back in Australia Bounty has accelerated activity on its projects in Western Australia and Queensland.
In the onshore Perth Basin drilling of the Leafcutter-1 oil exploration well is due to start on August 10. The well will test a prospect within the Woodada gas field production licence which is estimated to contain up to 16.6 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Just as importantly, the chances of recovering gas at Woodada have escalated as a result of reserves study. The study upgraded more than 10.4 billion cubic feet of gas from probable to proven.
Further north in the Basin, a contract was awarded to Petroleum Geo Services to acquire more than 370sq.km of 3D seismic across WA-325-P and WA-327-P. Bounty has a 10% interest in these permits.
In Queensland, the company is part of development of the Thomby Creek oil field (Bounty 25%) located in PL18 which it is exploring in joint venture with OME Group, Delbaere Associates and Brisbane Petroleum. Thomby Creek is estimated to contain up to 2.5 million barrels of oil - less than 3% has been recovered to date.
