| JANUARY 2002 - RELEASES |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (24-01-02) |
KEY POINTS 1.1 Onshore UK (ROC: 100% and Operator) Recording
of data on ROC's 400 sq km 3D seismic acquisition programme commenced
on 19 January 2002 and is expected to continue until April 2002. The 3D
data is being acquired in the South Humber Basin, in the vicinity of the
Saltfleetby Gas Field, and is designed to firm up leads interpreted from
2D seismic.
2.1 Saltfleetby Gas Field, Onshore UK (ROC: 100% and Operator) As foreshadowed
in ASX release of 17 January 2002, the Saltfleetby 6y appraisal/development
well, drilled late in 2001, has now been tied in to existing field production
facilities and started producing gas into the pipeline on 20 January 2002,
bringing to five the number of wells on stream. The Saltfleetby 6y well
has effectively increased the production capacity of the field by around
10%, and as already announced (ASX release 10 January 2002), initial 2P
reserves of the Saltfleetby Gas Field have been increased by 13.4 BCF
(18%) over the year end 2000 figure. Dr John Doran |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (17-01-02) |
KEY POINTS 1.1 TP/15 Offshore Perth Basin: (ROC 20% being earned) As contemplated
in ROC's release of 16 January 2001, ROC has exercised its option to acquire
a 20% interest in TP/15 from AWE (Perth Basin) Pty Ltd by paying 40% of
the cost of the next well to be drilled in that permit. Details of the
TP/15 option are set out in ROC's release dated 7 September 1999. Details
of the attraction of TP/15, which is adjacent to the recently announced
Cliff Head oil discovery, are contained in the ASX release made by ROC
yesterday.
2.1 Onshore UK (ROC: 100% and Operator) In the South Humber Basin, in the vicinity of the Saltfleetby Gas Field, preparations for the acquisition of approximately 400 sq km of 3D seismic continue. Recording of data is expected to commence by the end of the week and to continue until April 2002. By year end ROC expects to be in a position to start a multiwell, back-to-back, exploration drilling programme based on the results of the seismic survey.
3. DEVELOPMENT 3.1 Saltfleetby Gas Field, Onshore UK (ROC: 100% and Operator) Completion of the tie-in of the Saltfleetby 6y appraisal/development well is expected to be completed by the end of this week. The well is expected to increase field production, presently averaging about 32 MMSCFD, by more than 10%.
Dr John Doran Return to ASX Releases main page
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| CLIFF HEAD OIL FIELD : UPDATE AND FUTURE PLANS (16-01-02) |
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KEY POINTS Drilling operations at Cliff Head-1 and Cliff Head-2 commenced on 25 December 2001 and were successfully completed 11 days later on 4 January 2002. The wells were drilled by the Ensco 56 jack up rig in 16 metres of water, 11 kilometres offshore Dongara, Western Australia. (Attachments 1 and 2). A total of 3090 metres of section was drilled: 1499 metres to total depth in Cliff Head-1 and 1591 metres from the side track kick off point of 429 metres to total depth of 2020 metres in Cliff Head-2. The bottom hole location of Cliff Head-2, drilled at a 60º angle from the Cliff Head-1 location, is 1.1 km north northeast of the vertically drilled Cliff Head-1 (Attachments 3 and 4). Drilling and towing operations were accomplished within budget and with no safety or environmental incidents. The WA-286-P
Joint Venture's stated initial intention was to drill one well at the
Cliff Head location for a budgeted cost of A$10.3 million. The success
of Cliff Head-1 and the efficient drilling and towing operations, encouraged
the Joint Venture to immediately drill Cliff Head-2 as a side-track appraisal
well. The preliminary final total cost of the two well program, including
the rig tow, is approximately A$8.7 million, some 15% less than the budget
for the original one well programme.
Cliff Head-1
is a regionally significant discovery which is believed to represent a
number of "firsts", both for the offshore Perth Basin and the
broader Australian oil industry. Specifically it is: · The, first potentially commercial, live oil discovery in the northern
part of the offshore Perth Basin.
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Commenting
on the recent events at Cliff Head, ROC's CEO Dr John Doran stated that: Immediately after an oil discovery and a successful appraisal well everybody wants to know what is going to happen next - and when. In this regard, it is sometimes hard to strike the right balance between the genuine enthusiasm created by the drill bit and natural desire not to inadvertently overstate the discovery's ultimate commercial potential. Perhaps, it is sufficient to say that, on the evidence gathered to date, the Joint Venture would consider itself to be extremely unlucky not to have cause to proceed with a commercial development of the Cliff Head Field and/or a nearby future discovery. From ROC's specific corporate perspective: ROC now regards WA-286-P as a newly established core area. ROC fully expects to exercise, at the maximum (20%) level, its option to acquire from AWE Oil (Western Australia) Pty Ltd equity in TP/15 as outlined in ROC's ASX Release dated 7th September 1999. The rationale behind the exercise of the option reflects the fact that TP/15 contains a number of discrete undrilled prospects and leads on direct geological trend from the Cliff Head Oil Field as well as portions of some undrilled prospects that are located on the boundary between the two permits.
We are pleased that the first two wells drilled by ROC in Australia both
found oil. For more than a year ROC has been looking for what it has described
as "the next big thing", initially on the assumption that it
would take the form of an asset or corporate acquisition. Increasingly
during 2001, we stated that if the overheated state of the acquisition
market prohibited ROC from acquiring "the next big thing" at
end 2001 we would consider redirecting our discretionary funds inwards
towards organic growth targets, subject to the drilling results achieved
during the year. Now, as we look back over 2001, we see that every one
of ROC's seven significant wells which commenced drilling during the year
found hydrocarbons with the "worse" result being a 9 metre gas
column in the Courbine-1 rank wildcat well in deepwater offshore Mauritania.
All the other significant wells drilled by ROC found substantial commercial,
or potentially commercial, hydrocarbons including two new rank wildcat
exploration successes: the Chinguetti discovery offshore Mauritania and
the Cliff Head Oil Field, offshore Perth Basin. As a consequence, the
Company has decided to freeze most, but not quite all, of its new venture
activity for at least several months - longer if need be - in order to
ensure that it is well placed to work with its relevant joint venturers
to realise the full value of its recently enlarged portfolio of undeveloped
oil fields".
Dr John Doran |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (10-01-02) |
KEY POINTS 1.1 Cliff Head-1, Offshore Perth Basin, Western Australia, (ROC: 30% and Operator) Roc Oil (WA) Pty Ltd, Operator for and on behalf of the WA-286-P Joint Venture, advises that towing operations related to moving the Ensco 56 rig from the Cliff Head-1 site back to the Exmouth/Dampier area were completed on the morning of 9 January 2001 (Western Standard Time) when the contractual responsibility for the rig passed to Apache Energy Limited.
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2.1 Onshore UK In the South
Humber Basin, in the vicinity of the Saltfleetby Gas Field, activity has
commenced with regard to the acquisition of approximately 400 km²
of 3D seismic: the Immingham and LincsWolds surveys. These surveys have
been delayed from early 2001 by field entry restrictions imposed during
the UK foot and mouth epidemic, but topographic surveying has now been
completed for the first phase of the surveys. Recording of data is expected
to commence during January 2002 and will continue until April 2002. Roc Oil (UK) Limited and Roc Oil (CEL) Limited, wholly owned UK subsidiaries of ROC, have entered into gas price hedge contracts with Barclays Capital for the first half of 2002. Under the hedge contracts, 50,000 therms/day (4.55 million cubic feet per day) of sales gas from the Saltfleetby Gas Field will be sold at prices of 25.05 pence/therm and 20.15 pence per therm for the periods 1 January 2002 to 31 March 2002 and 1 April 2002 to 30 June 2002, respectively. The UK companies
have existing oil price hedging contracts in place for the period 1 January
2002 to 30 June 2002 for 1,000 barrels of oil per day at a Brent Oil price
of US$25.90 barrel.
Dr John Doran |
| UPDATE (10-01-02) |
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KEY POINTS · The Initial 2P gas in-place estimate for the Saltfleetby Field
at end-2001 stands at 119 BCF, up 17.1 BCF (17%) on the corresponding
figure for end-2000. As part
of ROC's company-wide year-end reserves review, Brovig RDS Ltd ("RDS"),
an independent petroleum engineering company based in Aberdeen, has provided
its preliminary assessment of the gas and condensate reserves in the 100%
ROC-owned and operated Saltfleetby Gas Field in Lincolnshire, in eastern
England (Attachment 1). RDS' preliminary
report takes into account the results of the most recent drilling activity
in the Field and may be summarized as follows: · Initial 2P recoverable gas reserves are up 13.4 BCF (18%) from 73.5 BCF at end-2000 to 86.9 BCF at end-2001. · The 13.4 BCF increase in initial 2P recoverable gas reserves has more than replaced 2001 gas production of 12.1 BCF. · Initial Proved (1P) recoverable gas reserves are up 2.1 BCF (3%) from 63.2 BCF at end-2000 to 65.3 BCF at end-2001. · Remaining 2P recoverable gas reserves are up 1.2 BCF from 56.8 BCF at end-2000 to 58.0 BCF at end-2001, of which 36.4 BCF (63%) is classified as Proved. · Initial 2P recoverable condensate reserves are up 0.2 MMB (20%) from 0.98 MMB at end-2000 to 1.17 MMB at end-2001. · The 0.19 MMB increase in initial 2P recoverable condensate reserves has effectively offset 2001 condensate production of 0.21 MMB. ·
Remaining 2P recoverable condensate reserves are 0.63 MMB at end-2001,
of which 0.39 MMB (62%) is classified as Proved. The increases in 2P recoverable gas and condensate reserves at Saltfleetby reflect the newly defined position of the Field's gas-water contact which was encountered for the first time in Saltfleetby-6 (see ASX Release dated 19 December 2001); refinement of the seismic interpretation based on the results of Saltfleetby-6y; pressure results from that well and the ongoing development and fine-tuning of the reservoir model in light of the stream of information flowing from continuing strong gas production. The 1P reserves case currently maintains the conservative view, held prior to the drilling of Saltfleetby-6, regarding the gas-water contact elevation in the main Field area. Year-end
reserves reviews of ROC's oilfields in the UK North Sea are presently
being conducted by the Calgary-based engineering firm Adams Pearson &
Associates and the results are expected to be announced to ASX by end
January 2001.
"Saltfleetby is proving to be quite a remarkable field. At the end of each full calendar year since the Field came on to production in late-1999, estimates of remaining 2P recoverable gas reserves have been revised upwards by an amount greater than the amount of gas produced during that year. As a result, we find ourselves at the beginning of 2002 with remaining 2P recoverable gas reserves of 58 BCF, 15% more than the equivalent estimate we were carrying at the end of 1999 - despite the fact the field has produced almost 30 BCF in the intervening period - and 35% more than the equivalent estimate, quoted prior to first production, in ROC's June 1999 Prospectus published as part of the Company's Initial Public Offering. While this form of self replenishment cannot continue indefinitely the trend which has developed during the last couple of years has given ROC plenty of reasons to be cheerful".
Dr John Doran |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (07-01-02) |
KEY POINTS Roc Oil (WA)
Pty Ltd, Operator for and on behalf of the WA-286-P Joint Venture, advises
that drilling activities on the Cliff Head-1 discovery well and the Cliff
Head-2 appraisal well were completed on 4 January 2002. The Ensco-56 rig
was released from the Cliff Head-1 site on 5 January 2002. At midnight
on 6 January 2002 the Ensco-56 rig was under tow to the Exmouth / Dampier
area for delivery to Apache Energy Limited for its next assigned well. The WA-286-P
Joint Venture is comprised of: -
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Dr John Doran |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (04-01-02) |
KEY POINTS Roc Oil (WA) Pty Ltd, Operator for and on behalf of the WA-286-P Joint Venture, advises that formation evaluation activities on Cliff Head-2, the successful sidetrack of the Cliff Head-1 oil discovery well, finished on 3 January 2002. The Cliff Head-2 results have confirmed the Joint Venture's view that the Cliff Head Oil Field could contain in excess of 70 MMBO in place. Consistent with the pre-drill strategy, advised to the ASX on 3 January 2002, and relevant government requirements, Cliff Head-2 will be plugged and abandoned as a successful appraisal well of the Cliff Head-1 oil discovery. At 0600 hours on 4 January 2002, well abandonment was proceeding ahead of rig release from the site for towing back to the Exmouth / Dampier area. The Joint
Venture's forward strategy is to thoroughly evaluate the results of the
two wells with the expectation that the newly discovered oil field and
nearby undrilled prospects, will be subject to intense exploration, appraisal
and, if warranted, development, activity within an optimum and urgent
timeframe. The WA-286-P
Joint Venture is comprised of: -
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"Drilling
operations at the two Cliff Head wells were completed much more quickly
than expected and have yielded excellent results which dramatically improved
the chances of a commercial oil field being developed in the offshore
Perth Basin. The Joint Venture will now concentrate its efforts on realising
the commercial potential of the area as quickly as possible".
Dr John Doran |
| CLIFF HEAD-2 DRILLING UPDATE (03-01-02) |
KEY POINTS Roc Oil (WA) Pty Ltd, Operator for and on behalf of the WA-286-P Joint Venture, is pleased to advise that, as of 0200 hours on 3 January 2001 (Western Standard Time), the Cliff Head-2 appraisal well was being evaluated at Total Depth of 2,020 metres below rotary table (mBRT) (1,310 metres true vertical depth (TVD)) after drilling a 28.5 metres gross vertical oil column. The top of
the formation containing oil bearing sandstone was encountered at 1,876
mBRT (1,246.5 mTVD). Oil bearing sandstone was encountered at 1,896.5
mBRT (1,255 mTVD), approximately 23.5 mTVD high to the top of the oil
bearing sandstone in the Cliff Head-1 discovery well, which contains a
five metre oil column. Interpretation of the drill data indicates the
presence of an 63.5 mBRT (28.5 mTVD) gross oil column in sandstones between
1,896.5 mBRT (1,255 mTVD) and 1,960 mBRT (1,283.5 mTVD). An oil-water
contact has been identified at 1,960 mBRT (1,283.5 mTVD) in Cliff Head-2
which corresponds to the oil-water contact in Cliff Head-1, 1.1 km to
the southsouthwest. First pass analysis suggests that approximately 50%
of the gross reservoir section appears to consist of moderate to good
quality net reservoir sand. Prior to drilling Cliff Head-2 and regardless
of whether or not that well encountered hydrocarbons, the Joint Venture
had decided not to production test the well based on operational and cost
efficiencies, information gathered from the discovery well and the option
to conduct production testing as part of a future appraisal programme.
The WA-286-P
Joint Venture is comprised of: -
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"What has happened at Cliff Head since Christmas Day is very encouraging. A significant discovery has been made; a successful appraisal well drilled; a common oil-water contact established and the perception that the Perth Basin is largely devoid of good quality oil-bearing reservoirs has been shown to be wrong, at least in the Cliff Head area. That's not a bad set of results for a 10 day drilling effort. In fact, it may represent some sort of record. To run a production test would require the Joint Venture to expend almost half as much again as the total cost incurred by the drilling of the two Cliff Head wells. Therefore, the Joint Venture's decision to plug and abandon the well without flow testing should not be regarded as being negative, but rather as an example of operational cost efficiency. From a broader industry and market perspective it is also encouraging that five of the six joint venturers, including the operator, are small Australian oil companies. It's hard to recall the last time that such a situation occurred in relation to a discovery offshore Australia.
The potential commerciality of the Cliff Head Oil Field will now be subject
to detailed and urgent review so that the next step in appraising the
field can be initiated as quickly as possible.
Dr John Doran |
| ACTIVITY UPDATE (02-01-02) |
KEY POINTS Roc Oil (WA) Pty Ltd, Operator for and on behalf of the WA-286-P Joint Venture, advises that Cliff Head-2, the sidetrack of the Cliff Head-1 discovery well, commenced drilling at 429 metres measured depth below the rotary table (m BRT) at 1800 hours (Western Standard Time) on 31 December 2001. At 0600 hours on 2 January 2002 (Western Standard Time) the Cliff Head-2 well was at a depth of 1493 m BRT and drilling ahead in 216 mm (8 1/2 inch) hole with an inclination of approximately 60 degrees. The top of the formation which contained oil in the Cliff Head-1 well is expected to be drilled by Cliff Head- 2 in the section below 1900 m BRT. The Cliff
Head-2 is being drilled to a reservoir target approximately 1.1 km to
the north northeast of the Cliff Head-1 well. The WA-286-P
Joint Venture is comprised of: -
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Dr John Doran |