The past year was not a memorable one for exploration. There were some notable exceptions, such as Beach Energy's shale gas campaign in the Cooper Basin and Chevron's run of successes in deep water on the edge of the Exmouth Plateau.
2012, however, is shaping up to be a better year, with some exciting prospects.
Heron-3
MEO has a lot riding on the Heron-3 exploration well, which is due to spud in March in NT/P68 in the Timor Sea.
Heron-3 is the much-anticipated follow-up to MEO's Heron-2 gas discovery well in 2007. Success will almost certainly secure gas feedstock for MEO's Tassie Shoals LNG/methanol development.
MEO obtained environmental approvals for Tassie Shoal back in 2004, based on the expectation it could secure gas from the partners in the nearby Evans Shoal field, but they refused to co-operate.
MEO was left to find its own gas, with the Heron and Blackwood prospects in NT/P68 its best bets.
If Heron-3 fails, there's still hope MEO could finally move forward with Tassie Shoals this year thanks to Eni, its new joint venture partner in NT/P68. Eni emerged recently as the mystery buyer of Santos' stake in Evans Shoal, which potentially opens the door for some long-overdue co-operation between MEO and the Evan Shoal partners.
Tallaganda-1
Tallaganda-1 could be the company maker that Tap Oil has searched for since it listed on the ASX in 1996.
The well, which is due to spud in the first quarter if 2012, is located in WA-351-P, immediately southwest of Hess' prolific WA-390-P, which in turn is immediately along strike from the Io/Jansz fields.
Tap has a 20% interest in WA-351-P, with BHP and Apache holding the balance (55% and 25% respectively) and operating the permit.
Tallaganda is thought have potential for between two and three trillion cubic feet in the Triassic section. Tap also points out there is potential in the Jurassic intervals.
While 20% of a 2Tcf field is not transformational for Tap, a discovery will certainly get the market excited about the upside of drilling the many other prospects in WA-351-P, which are clearly the prize in the sights of BHP Billiton.
Cinco-1
Cinco-1 in the Philippines is a potential company maker for Otto Energy, with BHP Billiton once again underwriting the costs. Otto is farming out a 60% interest to BHP Billiton, which is funding Cinco-1 in SC55 and possibly one other deepwater exploration well. Otto retains a 33.18% interest.
Cinco is a reefal/platform carbonate complex with mean estimate for gross recoverable gas resources of 2.1Tcf and 74 million barrels of carbonate. But that's just part of the story. Adjacent prospects have the potential for a combined 19Tcf of gas and 670MMbbl of condensate.
Boreas-1
Karoon Gas and ConocoPhillips spud Boreas-1 in WA-315-P in February, the first of a minimum of five exploration/appraisal wells in the Browse Basin. The campaign is designed to improve confidence in the partners' contingent gas resource at Poseidon/Kronos of 7Tcf and hopefully add to this figure with some significant new discoveries. If successful, Poseidon could become the basis of the Browse Basin's third LNG project (following Ichthys and Woodside's Browse LNG).
Palta-1
Shell's Palta-1 exploration well in WA-384-P in the southern Exmouth Plateau will be keenly watched, and not just by environmentalists who are riled by the well's proximity to Ningaloo Marine Park.
Shell has been tight lipped about Palta, a gas prospect in deeper stratigraphy than the oil reservoirs of the nearby North West Cape. Joint venturers in the neighbouring permit, WA-460-P, have reportedly said Palta is a 13.3Tcf prospect.
Success at Palta-1, which must be drilled by August to meet permit commitments, would represent one of the largest new field discoveries in decades.
Genseric-1
Genseric-1 in WA-434-P is the next cab off the rank for Woodside in its quest to discover enough gas to underpin the expansion of Pluto LNG. The previous well, Cadwallon-1, found uncommercial quantities of gas, although Woodside did have success earlier in the year with Martin-1 in WA-404-P.
Chevron had a stellar year in the deep water margins of the Exmouth Plateau, with big discoveries in 2011 at Acme West-1, Acme West-2, Chandon-3 and Vos-1.
Beach - shale gas
Beach's next steps in unconventional gas will be watched closely in 2012 as speculation increases about the company bringing in an oil major to share the high capital costs of development.
Holdfast-1 and Encounter-1 showed the Patchawarra trough is so gas saturated that it's not just the shales that are potential producers.
A new term "basin centred gas" or BCG is needed to more accurately describe the play, which will be further tested with three horizontal wells and up to five vertical wells in 2012.
Origin - offshore Vietnam
Origin's international exploration is overshadowed these days by its Australia Pacific LNG venture. A run of four dusters in the past 18 months in Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam has also shifted hopes away from international ventures. But that could change in 2012 if Origin's exploration well in Block 121 in the Song Hong Basin offshore Vietnam makes a big oil and/or gas discovery.
ExxonMobil is reported to have made a discovery of up to 7Tcf of gas in Block 118, triggering a rally in the shares of Neon Energy, which has an interest in neighbouring Block 120.
Back in Australia, Origin's campaign of up to six wells in the offshore Otway Basin could create some exciting news in 2012. It's the biggest offshore campaign in southeastern Australian waters in several years.
