Covering an area of about 500 square kilometres in portions of PELs 106 and 91, it is the largest 3D seismic exploration program ever undertaken in this region of the Cooper Basin.
Great Artesian yesterday said processing and interpretation of the data is expected to take another three to six months.
“This dataset will mark an exploration milestone in our understanding of the geology of the PEL 106 area,” technical director Chris Carty said.
The company has previously said it expects the Spinel 3D survey to provide an “extremely valuable” data set to explore for significant gas/condensate and oil accumulations in sand bodies flanking the western rim of the Patchawarra Trough.
It also hoped it would provide control for future development plans for the Middleton, Udacha, Paprika, Smegsy and Rossco gas discoveries.
Great Artesian said after interpretation, between three and six exploration wells will be initially drilled in the Spinel 3D survey footprint, all fully funded by farminees.
Beach will fully fund two exploration wells in the Beach Farmin Block portion of PEL 106, following which it will have earned a 50% participating interest.
In the Spinel Block portion of PEL 106, Energy Investments will fully fund between one and four exploration wells, the latter of which will result in the company earning a 50% participating interest in the block.
Great Artesian will retain 50% interest in both blocks.
The company plans to participate in further seismic acquisition programs, including the 160sq.km Spencer-Kiana-Muteroo 3D seismic survey and the Ficus 2D survey in PELs 106 and 107, where it is a joint venture participant.
