Cooper acquired Rion for 13 million Cooper shares with a notional face value of 50c, escrowed for 12 months.
Cooper said Rion directors have accepted the offer and shareholder acceptances totalling 87% have been received so far.
Rion holds 22.5% of the Seruway Production Sharing Contract (PSC), offshore northeast Sumatra, which includes the undeveloped Gurame Gas Field.
The field, discovered and delineated between 1967-1972, has estimated recoverable reserves in the range 400 2700 billion cubic feet plus 20-150 million barrels of condensate. It is 50km from the major Arun liquefied natural gas plant.
Cooper said in addition to the Gurame Gas Field, the Serway PSC also contains several other discovered but undeveloped gas fields, a number of mature prospects and a further 35 leads and prospects.
These other leads and prospects are estimated to have a total recoverable reserve potential of greater than 10 trillion cubic feet of gas and 500 million barrels of condensate.
Chief executive Michael Scott said the acquisition represented an “exceptional quality” addition to Cooper’s Indonesian portfolio and had the potential to provide a major development project in the very near future.
“What really impressed us is the quality of the technical data set over existing gas discoveries and the large number of leads and prospects within the block,” he said.
“Assets of this quality are extremely difficult to obtain for small E&P companies in an industry that is generally considered to be opportunity constrained at present.
“In addition to the gas discoveries, there is also the potential for oil.”
Scott said the JV has log data from five wells at the Gurame gas field and has completed a 3D seismic acquisition. An appraisal well is planned towards the end of this year.
“This dataset will hopefully enable us to accelerated monetisation of the asset and enable us to embark on a major gas development project in the near future,” he said.
The JV participants in the Seruway PSC are operator Transworld (55%), GFI Oil and Gas (22.5%) and Cooper (22.5%).
