Gippsland Offshore and Pancontinental have acquired about 6300 line kilometres of Falcon airborne gravity gradiometry and magnetic data over Kenya’s Lamu Basin L-6 permit.

The data will be processed in Melbourne by BHP Billiton under an exclusive contract with operator Gippsland Offshore.

Falcon is a BHP proprietary technology that BHP developed for minerals work and has modified for petroleum exploration.

Gippsland Offshore has said Falcon accelerates exploration by enabling quick identification and ranking of targets for a rapid move into a drilling phase.

The data will be integrated into the recently acquired seismic data, information from previous wells and data gleaned from some seeps onshore.

Drillable prospects will be mapped by the end of August, Gippsland Offshore said.

The joint venture now has the right to move into the next phase of the production sharing contract, which requires the drilling of two wells within four years if suitable drill targets are identified.

L-6 is a coastal block with about 30% of the area being onshore, according to Gippsland Offshore.

“The airborne survey and specifically the Falcon technology contained therein is considered crucial in linking the known onshore geology to the offshore geology and helping to unlock the basin’s structural settings,” the company said.

“To date, leads and prospects with the potential to hold 1.1 billion barrels of oil or 5 trillion cubic feet of gas have been mapped in the permit.

“The new data will be used to better understand and rank these leads and prospects prior to moving into the drilling phase of the PSC.”

Participants in the L-6 Block JV are Gippsland Offshore (with a 60% stake) and Pancontinental (40%).

Meanwhile, Gippsland Offshore has also announced it has applied for two high potential offshore Madagascar exploration permits.

The permits are expected to be awarded soon to the company and its JV partner, Dubai-based East Africa Exploration.

Bids for the acreage were submitted in December 2006 in the government’s licensing round and representatives from both companies were invited to present their bid and negotiate the contract terms in February, Gippsland Offshore said.

The blocks in question are in the Isle St Marie basin on the east of the island and the Cape D’Ambre area to the north of the island.

“Offshore Madagascar is part of the under-explored East African margin, which is generating considerable interest in the oil exploration sector following recent discoveries in the region,” Gippsland Offshore said.

Since 2004, Madagascar petroleum exploration levels have increased with ExxonMobil, Vanco Energy, Sterling Energy, Vuna Energy, Aminex and Tullow signing PSCs.

Gippsland Offshore said BHP’s Falcon technology would play an important role in winning and mapping these large, frontier exploration permits.

The Isle St Marie is 20,000 square kilometres and the Cape D’Ambre bid area is 16,000sq.km.

“The large areas will be explored over an eight-year period with drill or drop well obligations in the final phase of exploration,” the company said.

“In line with GOP’s strategy to fast-track the exploration and targeting process, the JV will be commencing both the airborne geophysical and seismic data acquisition as soon as practical after the signing of the PSC.”

With only 10 exploration wells having been drilled in the offshore basins, the area remains largely under-explored but early mapping indicates excellent opportunity for oil and gas accumulations in both areas, the company said.

Participants in the Madagascar JV are Gippsland Offshore (operator with a 70% stake) and East Africa Exploration (30%).