Well...the dump came yesterday (me too....bailed at 46.5c)....

Well...the dump came yesterday (me too....bailed at 46.5c). While TAP was around we had auto support at 46c...TAP are no longer there, so ARQ has to run on it's own merits and came to a close at 42c as a result.

Eric has quickly hopped in to try spruiking some support (see attached article); however it is all based on an extended drill programme well into next year.

Also attached are latest H2 results......note no Hydrocarbon shows from preceeding 11m.

None the less, ARQ may provide people the chance to trade in/out on future drills.

.....yes, maybe even TAP will come back, but I don't think it would be much more than previously offered...blue sky is a risk.

Further discussion appreciated!!

Choko

Tuesday, 16 July, 2002
ARC gets Perth Basin hat trick
Perth, 16 July, OGT — ARC Energy NL has announced that its latest onshore gas discovery means that the last three wells drilled by ARC in the Perth Basin have been new pool hydrocarbon discoveries.

The company's latest discovery was announced by Origin Energy and reported in Oil and Gas TODAY yesterday.

The discovery was made in the Hovea-2 well just south of Dongara in the Perth Basin after a drill stem test flowed at 16.5 million cu ft of gas a day from a zone below the recent Hovea-1 oil discovery.

ARC said that as far as it was concerned, the discovery meant that the last three wells it had drilled in the basin have been new pool hydrocarbon discoveries.

The company said these included:

• Hovea-1 – which discovered oil in the Dongara Sandstone reservoir in October last year and which flowed at up to 1800 bpd of oil on test

• Cliff Head-1 and 2 - which discovered a new oil fairway offshore from Dongara in December 2001

• Hovea-2 – which has discovered a new pool of gas in the High Cliff Sandstone zone below the Hovea-1 oil zone, which is virtually unexplored in the area.

ARC Managing Director Eric Streitberg said: “We are very pleased that our long held belief in the prospectivity of the Perth basin is coming to fruition."

"For a small Australian company such as ARC to have the opportunity to explore in such a prospective area is very unusual, and then to get three discoveries in a row is even more unusual," he said.

"Although all three discoveries are at an early stage of evaluation and will require more drilling and testing to firm up the reserves and the commercial potential, there are many more exploration targets in our areas similar to the ones we have already found and consequently we are confident our exploration success will continue.

"Moving forward from here we will firstly be drilling deeper in this well to see if there are any more producing zones and then, as planned, be drilling another well to determine how large the original Hovea-1 oil discovery is.

"The program after that will depend on the results of these wells but is likely to involve more wells at Hovea and further exploration wells in the area based on the recently obtained extensive 3D seismic coverage," he said.

"The discovery of gas in the Dongara area, especially with such high flow rates, is welcome news for ARC as there is a ready market for it into ARC's existing gas sales contracts as well as into new contract opportunities.

"In addition to the onshore activity, ARC will also be participating in the Cliff Head and TP/15 joint venture’s drilling program of up to seven wells early next year offshore from Dongara to both appraise the Cliff Head oil discovery and to explore the rest of the Cliff Head trend,” Streitberg said.

Tuesday, 16 July, 2002
Hovea-2, onshore Perth Basin, Western Australia
Perth, 16 July, OGT — ARC Energy NL has announced that at 0700 hours (WST) on 16 July, 2002, its Hovea-2 exploration well in L1, the Dongara exploration area, onshore Perth Basin, Western Australia, was at a depth of 2486 m KB.

Surface Location of Well: Lat. 29deg 18' 48.88" S Long. 115deg 02' 41.05" E
AGD 84/AMG 50

KB elevation 80.8 m

Operations Last 24 hours: Drill ahead from 2475 m to 2486 m.

Current Operations: Pulling out of hole due to drill pipe washout.

Operations next 24 hours: Fix washout, run in and drill ahead.

Hydrocarbon Indications: No significant shows in the 11 m drilled.

Participants in the well: ARC Energy NL 50%, Origin Energy Developments Pty Ltd 50%.