Exploration to restart in Great Australian Bight as Norway’s Statoil takes over BP permits
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Norway’s Statoil has inked a swap agreement with petroleum major BP, and will now start exploration in the Great Australian Bight.
BP in October shelved plans to explore the Bight, following a review of the company’s upstream strategy. The company said at the time that the Bight project would not be able to compete for capital with its other upstream opportunities.
Meanwhile, a Senate Inquiry into oil and gas exploration in the Bight in May failed to deliver conclusive results with a majority of its voting members supporting oil and gas activities in the region, subject to robust regulatory standards.
Statoil has now been granted regulatory approval to take over BP’s 70% interest in two exploration permits, giving the company full ownership of the two permits, in exchange for a 30% interest in two other exploration permits.
“We are very pleased to have reached these agreements and found a way forward for our exploration project in the Bight,” said Statoil VP of exploration in Australia, Pal Haremo.
“With this transaction, we have strengthened our position in this promising, unproven basin with a large exploration upside.”
The company will now take time to systematically work through all the preparations to start drilling work, and would be developing operational plans for the license areas.
The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (Appea) on Friday welcomed Statoil’s plans to explore for oil in the Great Australian Bight, with South Australia director Matthew Doman saying it was pleasing that Statoil was joining the industry group exploring the potential for petroleum development offshore South Australia.
“Statoil is a major player in the global oil and gas industry with operations in Europe, Africa, North America and Brazil. Today’s announcement is good news for South Australia and a vote of confidence in the Great Australian Bight’s potential as an oil producing region,” Doman said.
“The economic benefits could be enormous. While it is very early days, success in the Bight would attract substantial investment to South Australia and see significant local job creation.”
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation