JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed AWE, the operator of onshore permits in the northern Perth basin of Western Australia, on Friday announced a “major” upgrade of 2P reserves and updated 2C contingent resource estimates for the Waitsia gas field.

The company reported that Waitsia’s gross 2P reserves had increased by 93% to 344-billion cubic feet of gas, of which AWE’s share amounted to 172-billion cubic feet.

The 2C contingent resources for the Senecio, Irwin and Synaphea tight gas fields remained unchanged at 237-billion cubic feet of gas, but together with the Waitsia field, the 2P reserves and 2C contingent resources now totalled 867-billion cubic feet, of which AWE’s amounted to 432-billion cubic feet.

The upgrade followed the evaluation of new core data acquired in 2015 from the Waitsia-1 and Waitsia-2 wells and further analysis of well test data from the Senecio-3 and Waitsia-1 wells.

“This significant reserves upgrade is another very successful step in the ongoing appraisal of the Waitsia gas field and underlines the strategic importance of this exciting onshore gas project,” commented MD David Biggs.

He reported that AWE had made substantial progress on field modelling and that it was finalising concept selection options for the full field development of Waitsia and surrounding fields.

“Modelling indicates that a full field development and initial plateau rate of approximately 100 TJ/d can potentially be achieved from six wells, including the three wells already drilled. Excellent well productivity and easy access to infrastructure will see AWE positioned as a low-cost gas producer in Western Australia,” Briggs added.

The company expected Stage 1A of the gas project to deliver its initial contracted volumes of 10 TJ/d of gas into the Western Australia domestic market from the third quarter of 2016.

Looking ahead, Briggs said that AWE would drill another two appraisal wells on the Waitsia field in 2017 to potentially unlock further reserves and resources.

AWE’s joint venture partner in the L1/L2 permits is Origin Energy.