Roc Oil has farmed out its entire interest in the Baker Manta Gummy (BMG) fields in the Bass Strait.
The Australia-based firm sold its 50% interest and operatorship to Cooper Energy Ltd. for a US$924,959 cash payment, followed by a A$5 million contingent consideration, subject to first hydrocarbons from a commercial development.
The transaction, effective 1 Jan 2014, includes the transfer of all remaining ROC BMG liabilities to Cooper, resulting in a reversal of ROC’s full abandonment obligation, netting the company US$32 million.
Cooper now holds a 65% total interest in the field, 15% acquired form Beach Energy Ltd. which retains a 35% interest in the field. The price of this transaction is unknown. Cooper said it intends to review the undeveloped oil and gas in the BMG fields to include in its year-end review and estimate of reserves and resources.
The Basker, Manta, and Gummy fields were originally found by Shell in 1983, 1984, and 1990, respectively. Basker, the main oil field, sits in 200m of water and is 70km offshore Victorian. Manta sits in 110m of water and contains oil as well as significant gas reserves. Gummy field is in 150 m of water about 75km offshore and contains mostly gas.
Shell and its partners sold the fields to Woodside Energy Ltd. in the mid-1990s, and Woodside then sold them to Anzon Australia in March 2004. Beach Energy farmed in during 2005, and Roc Oil merged with Anzon in 2008, taking control of the fields.
Oil production began from Basker field in 2006 with Manta added later. Oil was produced through the Crystal Ocean FPSO. At one stage oil production reached 6000bbl/d, however, the BMG fields have been in a non-production phase since 2010. Operations were suspended after a full field gas development was considered non-commercial.
The three fields sit in production licenses Vic/L26, Vic/L27 and Vic/L28 in the Gippsland Basin.
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