| MAY 2004 - RELEASES |
| JOINT VENTURE APPROVES CHINGUETTI DEVELOPMENT (31-05-2004) |
The Woodside-operated Chinguetti Oil Field development in Mauritania will proceed following joint venture approval of the project. The capital investment expected to execute Phase 1 is approximately US$600 million. The Chinguetti field development will include six production wells and four water injection wells for reservoir pressure support with flowlines to a permanently moored floating production, storage and offloading vessel moored over the field in about 800 metres of water. Surplus gas not required for fuel will be returned to a nearby reservoir via a gas injection well. The floating production facility will be a converted trading tanker owned and operated under a service agreement with Berge Helene Offshore AS, of Norway. Bergesen is a specialist provider and operator of floating production systems with current operations experience in Equatorial Guinea and Angola. The floating production facility will have a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels. Oil production is expected to begin at about 75,000 barrels a day. Subsea hardware will be supplied by FMC and drilling will be conducted by Smedvig and Stena Drilling.
Commenting on the announcement, ROC’s CEO Dr John Doran stated that:
|
| ROC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2004, RESOLUTIONS & DISCLOSURE OF PROXY VOTES (19-05-2004) |
In order to view a transcript of The Chairman's Address, click here In order to view the AGM Resolutions & disclosure of Proxy Votes, click here In order to view a transcript of The Chief Executive Officer's Address, click here To view the AGM Presentation in full, click here (4.7 MB) |
| DRILLING ACTIVITY UPDATE (14-05-2004) |
Commenting on the Block 22/12 drilling programme Dr John Doran ROC's Chief Executive Officer stated that: “Operationally, the three well drilling programme, ROC’s first international offshore drilling operation, went very smoothly and was completed essentially on budget and within schedule. From a technical and commercial point of view the results provided by the drilling programme were mixed. The programme did confirm the in-place oil estimates for the 12-8-2 field as a result of which the Joint Venture will spend the next two or three months studying the results of the drilling in an effort to determine whether or not it is possible to develop this highly viscous oil field.”
Return to ASX Releases main page |
ROC COMMENCES APPRAISAL WELL IN BLOCK 22/12, BEIBU GULF, OFFSHORE CHINA (10-05-2004) |
The well is expected to take up to 10 days to drill, log and fully evaluate to a Total Depth of approximately 1,510 metres, prior to plugging and abandonment – which will be undertaken regardless of the results of the well – and rig release. The Wei-12-3-4 well will be a down dip appraisal of the Wei 12-3-1 oil discovery which was drilled in 1982 and flowed 36° API oil at 1,380 BOPD from the Weizhou Formation. Unless there are operational problems which would cause the drilling to be more prolonged than anticipated, ROC does not intend to release further information about the well until a preliminary interpretation of the wireline logs over the zone of interest is available. This is because, in this part of the Beibu Gulf, the reporting of “oil shows” observed while drilling, prior to the interpretation of wireline logs, is not particularly meaningful.
|
| CLOSING OF RENOUNCEABLE RIGHTS ISSUE – 93% TAKE UP (05-05-2004) |
The Rights Issue raises gross proceeds of about $92 million for ROC's next phase of growth. The primary use of the funds raised from the Rights is to assist in funding the development of ROC's assets in Western Australia and Mauritania , the appraisal and possible development of its fields offshore China and to allow the Company to continue its exploration and appraisal programmes in Mauritania as well as its exploration activities in Equatorial Guinea and Angola . Holding statements for the new shares will be dispatched on Tuesday, 11 May 2004 and normal trading in these shares is expected to commence from Wednesday, 12 May 2004 . ROC also advises that pursuant to Listing Rule 6.22, following completion of the Rights Issue the exercise price for all employee options and shareholder options currently on issue will be decreased by 16 cents with effect from Wednesday, 12 May 2004 .
Commenting on the Rights Issue, ROC's CEO, Dr John Doran, stated that: " This was a relatively large capital raising, the intention of which was to give as many shareholders as possible the opportunity to participate. In this context, the 93% take up is regarded as a good outcome. ROC thanks its longstanding shareholders for their support and welcomes new shareholders to the Company. From this recapitalised base, we look forward to building a bigger and better company, working together with all shareholders. "
|
BEIBU GULF APPRAISAL WELL CONFIRMS 11 METRE NET OIL PAY, OFFSHORE CHINA (03-05-2004) |
The Wei 12-8-3 well is located in 33 metres of water 830 metres north of the 1994 Wei 12-8-2 discovery well which flowed 2,355 BOPD from the Miocene Jiaowei Formation via a downhole electric submersible pump. Information collected while drilling Wei 12-8-3, together with the preliminary interpretation of initial wireline log data, the partial examination of two cores cut through the reservoir section and initial analysis of fluid samples, confirm an 11 metre gross oil column in the Jiaowei Formation, all of which is net oil pay. Top reservoir came in essentially on prognosis, approximately 3 metres high to the discovery well. Reservoir quality is excellent with an average porosity above 30% and inferred multi-darcy permeabilities. The Oil-Water Contact (“OWC”) is consistent with the contact established in the discovery well. At, and just below, the OWC in Wei 12-8-3 there appear to be some thin streaks which display much lower permeabilities and which hold out the possibility that they may act as “aquatards” effectively reducing the rate of water coning should the field be brought on to production. Preliminary, on-site, viscosity measurements indicate a highly viscous oil. Although this is, again, broadly consistent with data from the discovery well, the measured viscosity in the current well is higher than pre-drill expectations which had been based on a reinterpretation of the balance of interpretive evidence from the discovery well. Wei 12-8-3 also encountered oil shows in top basement which will be subject to further post-drill analysis. Subsequent to finishing operations at the current well the rig will move to drill the third well, which will also be the first contingent well, in this two to five well drilling programme. That well, Wei-12-3-4, will be a down dip appraisal of the 1982 Wei 12-3-1 oil discovery which flowed 36° API oil at 1,380 BOPD from the Weizhou Formation. It is expected that Wei 12-3-4 will start drilling towards the end of this week approximately 2 km north of the current Wei 12-8-3 location (Attachment 1). As previously advised, regardless of the results obtained, the Wei-12-8-3 well will be plugged and abandoned in accordance with the pre-drill programme.
“Compared to the discovery well, this latest well has a somewhat thicker oil column, even better reservoir quality, the same oil-water contact and more clearly defined potential aquatards at the base of the oil column – all of which may be viewed as being encouraging. However, the results also seem to confirm the highly viscous nature of the oil and that is now regarded as the main challenge facing the Joint Venture as it tries to determine if this field can be used as the cornerstone development for this very oily area. Getting to grips with the viscosity issue will be the key focus for our post-drill technical studies”.
Return to ASX Releases main page |