wa oil and gas project

WA OIL & GAS PROJECT

New Technology to be used for Promising Oil and Natural Gas Search on Perth's doorstep Westralian Gas & Power Ltd is pleased to announce that it with joint venture partners Lempika Pty Ltd (25%) and Emphazise Pty Ltd (25%) have recently been offered and accepted two offshore petroleum permits W05-21 and W05-22, comprising 4530 sq km, in the Vlaming Sub-basin.

Located offshore from Perth, between Rottnest Island and Mandurah, the Department of Industry and Resources states: "that a petroleum system is present in the Vlaming Sub-basin. Seismic data provide further evidence of a potential active petroleum system in Areas W05-21 & W05-22, with an apparent gas chimney imaged."
Source: http://www1.industry.gov.au/acreagereleases2005/html/vlaming_sum.htm

The Company has assessed existing reprocessed seismic data for W05-21 and W05-22 showing the existence of previously unmapped structures, which has led to a reassessment of the prospectivity of these areas. The areas also have considerable merit when compared to similar prospects in other parts of the world.

Previously, the complex structural geology combined with limited seismic resolution resulted in failure to accurately predict the distribution, thickness and quality of reservoirs and seals.

Past exploration has produced a live oil and gas show at Araucaria #1 near the recently discovered gas chimney and oil indications in all five of the other wells drilled in the blocks. These shows were from Jurassic and Cretaceous rock.

Wells which did not intersect any significant hydrocarbon shows were either stratigraphic tests (not located on any significant geological structure) or located on poorly defined overstructures which were proven later by seismic surveys to not be a valid structural play. With new technology available to explorers, better analysis of these structures is possible and the defining of valid plays is more likely. The development of a modern sequence stratigraphic framework for the petroleum system elements in the Vlaming Sub-basin, and the use of modern, good quality seismic data married to developments in other exploration methods such as CSEM (Controlled Source Electro-magnetic Measurements) is seen as the key to successful exploration in the Vlaming Sub-basin.

CSEM offers the promise of improved ranking of development prospects and more accurate or reduced appraisal drilling. It is considered possible that companies may sometimes be able to go straight from 2D seismic to CSEM without the need for a costly 3D seismic survey. CSEM technology has been successfully used in locating large hydrocarbon reserves in the offshore areas of The North Sea, South America and Africa and it is anticipated that its use in the Company's areas will result in the delineation of targets, which may contain significant hydrocarbon reserves.

Executive chairman Peter Briggs said he is excited by the prospect of using CSEM offshore from Perth.

Both the Department of Industry and the Company believe the area is promising but it had proven to be a hard nut to crack in the 1970s and 80s.

"Better quality seismic work than that done in years gone by coupled with CSEM may be the key to unlocking the areas' fruits," Mr Briggs said. Should economic amounts of oil or gas be discovered, Non-executive director Alan Burns said, any natural gas could readily be deliverable into Perth's pipeline network and oil brought ashore readily. "The area is highly prospective for significant oil and gas discoveries in younger rocks than previously found to be productive in the Perth Basin".

Mr Burns, founder and former chairman of Hardman Resources, brings considerable experience and expertise to the JV personally and from his family company Cladium Pty Ltd that owns Lempika Pty Ltd and Emphazise Pty Ltd. Mr Burns has taken over the reins of Cladium since his retirement from Hardman. Cladium has been involved in 16 producing and discovery wells, including four new field discoveries, in the Perth Basin since 1975.

I have gone back to running the family company, Cladium again, it has a lot of experience in the Perth Basin, much of it successful