Work started in mid-November on a 3D seismic survey –the largest undertaken in onshore WA and one of the most complex anywhere in Australia - and is expected to lead to drilling in early 2005.
“It is a very exciting program that could double or treble the size of the company,” managing director Eric Streitberg told EnergyReview.Net.
Streitberg said that aside from areas that Arc itself had covered, the onshore Perth Basin was more or less unexplored. The company's gas exploration program has been very successful and Arc was optimistic its oil program could be equally successful.
"We've drilled three wells in the area and found three oilfields," managing director Eric Streitberg told EnergyReview.Net.
"It could be drilled on 2D seismic but we've decided to acquire 3D as that allows us to go straight to development drilling,” he said.
"We rely on good 3D seismic and that gives us excellent results. We've got the best success rate [for finding hydrocarbons] in onshore Australia."
Acquisition of the Denison 3D seismic survey with the full field crew recommenced on 8 January following the mobilisation of the crew after the holiday season break, Streitberg said.
The crew undertook acquisition tests in late December 2004. The test data was processed during the holiday season by Veritas in Singapore and the results are being used to optimise the acquisition and processing parameters for the main survey, according to Arc.
Before the holiday break the surveyors and line preparation crews had completed line preparation of some 800 km of a total survey length of 2,990km. These crews have now also been remobilised.
The survey is being acquired over the highly prospective oil trend on the western side of the L1/L2 licence and over the adjacent L14 licence. It will cover the Jingemia and Eremia fields and the leads and prospects identified from the existing sparse 2D seismic data and gravity surveys.
Arc said it intended to fast-track the processing of the central portion of the survey over the Eremia and Jingemia oil fields, and the prospective structures adjacent to these fields, and to begin drilling on these areas as early as practicable.
Participants in L1 and L2 (excluding the Dongara, Mondarra and Yardarino fields), and the Denison seismic survey are Arc (50% and operator) and Origin Energy Developments Pty Ltd (50%).
