BassOil yesterday revealed that there is the potential for 1.75 trillion cubic feet within the Emperor Formation within its 100%-owned VIC/P68.
Executive director Tino Guglielmo says the reprocessed and reinterpreted seismic has been telling.
"The Emperor is remarkable, it is just so coherent and correlatable, and it is proven. It is a real surprise that it has not been mapped until now," he said.
Guglielmo said the Golden Beach play, the former main target that led to the large Kipling, Benchley and Oscar targets, would no longer carry VIC/P41 or VIC/P68.
The Golden Beach was the conventional play that was front of mind in the Gippsland Basin for so long, but it never had a coherent picture across the two permits.
"One of the first things we did was we knitted together four 3D seismic surveys of different vintages and orientations," Guglielmo said.
"That was something that was started about two years ago. We got the data in house before the end of last year, and that was the first coherent, processed 3D seismic over such a long stretch of the Rosedale Fault, and it became obvious to us that the Emperor robust closures just started falling out."
He said the Emperor was "a natural opportunity" given it is close to other gas fields, including the only Emperor Formation field developed in the basin, Longtom.
The technical review, defined "exciting new exploration opportunities" in the Emperor Formation. The first largest leads could host up to 1.75Tcf (P50).
Individual leads range from 149 billion cubic feet to 514Bcf (P50).
The review has also identified a number of possible oil targets on trend with the upper Latrobe group Leatherjacket field.
Leatherjacket is now assessed as an eight million barrel field, too small to be commercial on its own, but there is a 22MMbbl (2C) lead adjacent to the oil discovery.
The Leatherjacket area is a play that is dear to Guglielmo heart, in an area he says has not seen much respect.
Guglielmo said BassOil had undertaken was the first comprehensive review of Leatherjacket since it was drilled by Esso in 1986, resulting in the discovery of an oil column in excess of 25m as indicated by wireline logs.
"I reckon it is going to be an oil development in the future," Guglielmo said.
If Bass Oil can prove up several oil pools it could develop a robust subsea development, and with the prolific Top Latrobe formation having no reservoir issues, it would be simple development.
The most significant lead is LJ 3, which could contain between 9MMbbl (P90) and 57Mmbbl (P10). LJ-3 could be sufficient for a standalone, but it really needs new 3D seismic, to replace the vintage 2D and firm up the targets, as well some oblique one line rollovers.
"We need the 3D to prove this is a string of pearls," he added.
Guglielmo said if 3D Oil and Hibiscus Petroleum have luck with their Sea Lion-1 well, which is also testing a Top Latrobe target at the western end of the Northern Platform, it bodes well for Leatherjacket because the structural settings are not dissimilar.
Sea Lion-1 is trying to prove up a Top Latrobe trend with the adjacent West Seahorse field.
The company is planning a modest 225sq.km 3D seismic survey during the 2016/17 Bass Strait weather window with other seismic explorers.
Guglielmo said the gas targets were all large enough to be economic, and the company is going to commence discussions with third parties who are able to invest in the assets, although he said the company could afford to fund the shoot itself within the 100% owned VIC/P68.
In VIC/P41, which it shares with Oil Basins, it is seeking to change the work program, and Guglielmo is hopeful that the permit obligations will be pushed out to allow further maturation of the Emperor leads and then aggregate a drilling obligation with other drilling in the basin.
VIC/P68 and VIC/P41 are close to the Sole gas field, being developed by Santos and Cooper Energy, and Cooper and Beach's Basker-Manta-Gummy fields.
BassOil shares were flat at $0.004 yesterday, while Oil Basins was unchanged at $0.003.
