Sapex to launch new oil and gas exploration

The most detailed oil and gas exploration activity in some 25 years on South...

  The most detailed oil and gas exploration activity in some 25 years on South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin is about to begin under a new contract announced today by Sapex Ltd.Sapex said it had signed a contract with Terrex Seismic to conduct a seismic survey in the Arckaringa Basin, with field work getting under way next month. It will be the first seismic survey to be conducted in the Basin since early in the 1980s and will total 428km of 2D seismic. Approximately half of the seismic work will provide detailed coverage over two areas in the Boorthanna Trough where interpretation has indicated several prospects and leads. “The data is expected to enable SAPEX to determine locations suitable for petroleum exploration drilling,” the Company’s Managing Director, Mr Andrew Andrejewskis, said Friday. “Sapex is aiming to drill two exploratory wells before the end of the year, subject to the completion of processing and interpretation of the data and the securing of a suitable rig,” he said. “The second part of the survey is a regional 2D program aimed at the determining the southward extension of the Boorthanna Trough. “Field operations are expected to commence late in April and take approximately 6 weeks to complete.” Reports of the progress of the oil and gas seismic survey will be made to the market. Adelaide based Sapex holds a 100% interest in the under-explored Arckaringa Basin, with 65,000 sq km under 7 granted PELs.As well as the new oil and gas exploration activity announced today, the company , through the recently announced farmin with Eastern Star Gas, will soon be undertaking the first ever coal seam gas investigation into South Australia’s vast coal deposits. Sapex was recently granted $100,000 by the South Australian Government’s PACE program towards the CSG program in the Arckaringa Basin.While there has been considerable coal-mining exploration and drilling undertaken in the Basin, no assessment has ever been made of the gas content in the coal and no major CSG investigation has ever been undertaken on SA’s coal deposits. 
 Sapex is undertaking a thorough appraisal of the potential of the CSG with the view of supplying clean energy to the significant energy markets emerging in this region of South Australia, viz. to major mineral projects. In addition, Linc Energy will be undertaking drilling into coal deposits to assess the suitability of the coals for underground coal gasification which, if successful could lead to the production of clean diesel and also be an energy source for power generation.