After Reids Dome North in the Bowen Basin, VicPet would drill four exploration wells in the Cooper Basin – Banff, Tomcat, Growler and Nora – and one exploration well at the Margarita Prospect in the Gulf Coast, Texas, the company told the Australian Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon.
An active exploration and development program would then see up to a further seven wells drilled over the following three months.
“We are kicking off the second half of 2006 with the Primero-1 well on the Reids Dome in central Queensland,” VicPet managing director John Kopcheff said.
“This is a much-awaited well, as we have experienced shallow gas exploration success before but are looking forward to the deeper 300 bcf gas potential.”
In Australia, VicPet’s four-well Copper exploration program in the Cooper Basin will begin with the drilling of Banff-1 in ATP 794P, southwest Queensland.
“The start of drilling in the Queensland Cooper Basin in late July is particularly significant, as it is the first well that has been drilled in the permit in 10 years,” Kopcheff said.
He said VicPet was “truly going back to our roots with Banff-1, as this is the area Vicpet drilled first after listing in 1984”.
The company was also looking to build on its current oil and gas production in Australia and the US during the second half of 2006.
The timing of the drilling of each well and VicPet’s interest in each well and permit was subject to rig, lease availability and farm out and government approval to drill.
