Santos Limited (Santos) and the Mitsui & Co, Ltd (Mitsui) subsidiary, Mittwell have joined forces again to explore for oil and gas – this time in another part of the offshore Otway Basin, southern Australia.
Santos announced today that Mittwell Energy Resources Pty Ltd, already a joint venture partner in the $200 million Casino gas development, has now taken a 25% equity interest in the VIC/P51 exploration permit area.
Mittwell will jointly participate with Santos and existing partner INPEX ALPHA LTD., a subsidiary of INPEX CORPORATION, in a new exploration program in the VIC/P51 permit area, which is in offshore Victoria, in the Otway Basin.
This includes drilling the Callister 1 exploration well, which spudded on October 13th 2004, and is being drilled in VIC/P51 by the deepwater rig, Jack Bates.
The Jack Bates rig arrived on location at the site of the Callister 1 well earlier this week, after a 7 week voyage from Norway.
The Mittwell farm-in agreement is subject to approval by relevant authorities.
The VIC/P51 permit covers an area of over 2600 square kilometres. It lies adjacent to the Casino gas development in VIC/P44 and the deepwater exploration permit VIC/P52.
The VIC/P52 permit is the location for Santos’ frontier exploration well, Amrit 1, which will be drilled immediately following the Callister 1 well.
“We are pleased to welcome Mittwell as a partner in a portion of our Otway Basin exploration program,” Santos’ Managing Director, Mr. John Ellice-Flint, said today.
Interest holders in the VIC/P51 exploration permit are:
|
New interests |
Previous interests |
|
|
Santos Offshore Pty Ltd |
55% |
80% |
|
Mittwell Energy Resources Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui) |
25% |
– |
|
INPEX ALPHA LTD |
20% |
20% |
