The Harriet partners are currently supplying the daily 80 terajoule contract quantity of gas and anticipate being able to do so for years to come, but the agreement requires the Harriet Joint Venture to have gas reserves for 20 years.
The effect of the force majeure notice is to suspend this obligation to the extent that the HJV cannot demonstrate the full reserves requirement, Tap told the ASX this morning.
“The force majeure events described in the notice include the failure of certain HJV exploration and development wells,” Tap said.
“The HJV continues to progress further exploration and development programs for gas in its permit areas.”
The joint venture is currently drilling the Bambra East-1 and 2 wells. Tap has said progress on these wells as “very encouraging”.
But the force majeure notice will do little to calm investors concerned about Tap’s ongoing failure to replace declining reserves.
The Harriet partners are: Apache Northwest (operator and 68.5%, Kufpec Australia 19.28% and Tap Oil 12.22%.