The Rivoli gas field is a joint venture between Strike Oil, as operator with a 44.5% stake, Victoria Petroleum with 36.1%, Bow Energy (11.1%) and Advent Energy (8.3%).

Strike announced yesterday it had been commissioned by the Australian Government to undertake a front end engineering design study to investigate supplying 8 petajoules of gas per annum to the station for 20 years. If the project was deemed viable, first gas could be expected in 2009.

But Strike said the project would only be worthwhile if the gas price remained high enough to underpin the development and operating costs, and was competitive with the diesel used to power the facility.

“The establishment of production infrastructure in this permit will provide an incentive for further exploration drilling of nearby oil and gas prospects, and herald a renewed focus and a new round of activity over all of Strike’s extensive Carnarvon Basin acreage,” technical director Jim Durrant said.

“Strike’s prospective permits in the area contain numerous prospects, including the Baniyas Prospect, with upside potential to 60 million barrels of oil or over 100 billion cubic feet of gas, which have been developed for a new drilling campaign being put together for the second half of next year.”

Victoria Petroleum also has other Carnarvon Basin acreage, including the adjacent EP 359 permit, an onshore block held in partnership with Empire Oil & Gas.

For this drilling program, Durrant said Strike was trying to line up shallow-water prospects that could use a smaller offshore drilling unit than the larger, expensive rigs now drilling in the region.