The shipment is bound for the Crib Point terminal in Westernport Bay for transfer to a tanker for international markets today.
Anzon chief operating officer Andrew Young said the delivery capped a year of “extraordinary” progress for the 50/50 joint venture partners Anzon and Beach Petroleum.
“The delivery of the first load of crude oil this week, worth an estimated $A25 million, is the culmination of an amazing effort for all concerned in 2005 and augurs well for our full development of the fields in 2006,” Young said.
Young said the tanker-to-tanker transfer was the first of its type in Victoria.
The second shipment of crude is expected for delivery to an Australian refinery in early March.
Continuous production was established at the field on December 8, with the Basker-2 well averaging 8000 barrels per day from the upper interval of perforations.
Worth A$280 million, the Basker-Manta project involves numerous innovative initiatives, according to Anzon.
• It is the first Floating Production Storage Offtake (FPSO) development in south-east
Australia enabling commercial development of a previously marginal oil field;
• The project uses the first dedicated shuttle tanker in Australia; and
• It is the first non-Esso/BHP oil production in the Gippsland basin.
With the Basker-2 well currently undergoing an extended production test, the lower interval of perforations are expected to start producing next week. Anzon said a commingled stream from the two intervals would begin next month.
The full field development, involving an additional four wells, is scheduled to come onstream in the third quarter of this year, after drilling starts next week, the company said.
Last October, Anzon said an independent assessment estimated the field contained proved and probable (2P) oil reserves of 30.1 million barrels.
The Basker-Manta fields, in Victorian Production Licence L/26, were discovered by Shell in 1983. The oil reserves are contained in the Intra-Latrobe Group, while the deeper Golden Beach Group holds a contingent gas resource.
