Voyager also has two rigs, Sedco 703 (at Fiddich-1 in WA-226-P) and Ensco 56 (at WA-325-P and WA-327-P), contracted for offshore exploration in the fourth quarter and ended this quarter with a cash balance of A$9.2 million.
According to the firm, “During the quarter Voyager settled on the transactions with Wandoo Petroleum and Arc Energy which increased our ownership in the Cliff Head and Jingemia oil fields to 6% and 11% respectively.”
“The additional investment in the Jingemia field has already shown a very good value gain with Voyager confident of at least a doubling of recoverable reserves. Additional engineering work has been required on the Cliff Head field but first oil is still scheduled for late 2005,” it added.
The 1% addition to WA-286-P/Cliff Head was settled with Wandoo on 27 April with FEED extended to September. With its partners, it then intends to decide in December on a final investment decision on the acreage then.
“One of the important processes for the issue of a production licence for the Cliff Head field is the Public Environmental Review or “PER”. Public comment on the PER has been received and Operator ROC Oil has prepared responses which have been submitted to the authorities,” said the company.
“Matters appear to be progressing well with relevant environmental approvals from both state and federal authorities anticipated in September. Remapping of the exploration potential in the block was completed in the quarter identifying several attractive follow up prospects, in particular Frankland with 30 to 40 million barrels potential [but] additional seismic will be acquired prior to probable drilling in 2005,” it added.
At Jingemia’s EP 413 and the Jingemia Production Licence L14, Voyager acquired an additional 4.73% equity from Arc Energy. According to the firm, this acquisition has proven to be an apt move.
“Jingemia-4 was successfully drilled as a second oil production well and is being brought on production effective 30 July. This should support gross production building up to 4,000 bpd during August, with up to 440 bpd net [going] to Voyager,” it said.
“Importantly, the results of the extended production test of Jingemia-1 and Jingemia-4 strongly supports a significant upgrade to reserves in the field [and] there is general agreement by the Origin Energy operated JV that there is potential for up to 15 million barrels of recoverable oil in the field, 85-90% of which would be located within the newly issued Jingemia production licence L14.
“Voyager is confident that proved and probable recoverable reserves of 8 to 11 million barrels are present which will require additional development drilling and 3D seismic to convert to proved reserves,” it added.
The company also confirmed 3D data acquisition will begin this October while drilling on the Jingemia-5 appraisal well should begin this year as well. In fact, Jingemia has proven to be a cash cow for the firm.
“During the June quarter Voyager derived net operating income (“NOI”) of $546,000 from 15,803 net barrels of Jingemia oil production and the Company projects NOI of over $4.0 million during fiscal 2005,” said Voyager.
