20th Mar 2009 07:30
20 March 2009
EXPLORATION PERMIT EPP27, OFFSHORE SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Oilex Ltd is pleased to advise that an agreement has been reached between the Joint Venture participants in Permit EPP27 and the Australian Joint and Designated Authority in which the parties have agreed that the Joint Venture is not required to drill a commitment well in the Permit in consideration for entering into a Good Standing Arrangement (GSA) with the Government. Further details of the GSA are set out below.
At the same time the Joint venturers have also separately entered into a Deed of Settlement and Release under which Great Artesian Oil and Gas Limited ("GAOG") agrees to release Oilex Ltd, Videocon Industries Ltd ("VIL") and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation ("GSPC") from their obligations in relation to drilling an exploration well in the Permit under the terms of their Farmin Agreement entered into with GAOG in 2006, in consideration for Oilex, VIL and GSPC agreeing to bear GAOG's share of the GSA obligations.
Oilex Ltd considers this to be an acceptable outcome as a well in EPP27 could not be technically or commercially justified on available data.
Good Standing Agreement Details Under the GSA, the Joint Venture has no further obligations in respect of the Permit which is returned to the Government.
The parties to the GSA may expend their share of the GSA either solely, or with another party to the GSA or with a third party not subject to the GSA. Any expenditure must be in respect of field activities in the three year primary term on re-released offshore acreage in Australia which is awarded during the next two bidding rounds pursuant to a successful bid by that party (whether alone or with other parties to this GSA or with a third party).
As an alternative to bidding on re-released acreage, the obligations of a party under the GSA may be satisfied by the party expending their commitment under the GSA in the primary term of newly released offshore acreage in Australia which is awarded during the next two bidding rounds pursuant to a successful bid by that party (whether alone or with other parties to this GSA or with a third party), provided that there is no bid made in competition for that acreage by an entity which is not a party to this GSA.
The value of the work program to be carried out during the three year period attributed to each EPP27 Joint Venture party is set out below:
EPP27 Joint Venturer Monetary Share of GSA (AUD) GAOG $0 Oilex $2,101,225 GSPC $1,575,918 Videocon $1,575,918 Yours sincerely,Raymond G. BarnesTechnical Director
For further information, please contact:
Ray Barnes, Technical Director, Oilex Ltd Tel. +61 8 9485 3200 (Western Australia) Archie Berens, Director Pelham Public Relations Tel. +44 20 7743 6679 (United Kingdom)
RFC Corporate Finance Ltd acts as Oilex's Nominated Adviser, contact Stuart Laing +618 9480 2506
The information in this report has been compiled by the Managing Director of Oilex Ltd, Bruce McCarthy B.Sc. Hons. PhD (Geology) who has over 29years experience in petroleum geology and Ray Barnes, B.Sc. Hons. the Technical Director of Oilex Ltd who has over 35 years experience in petroleum geology and is a member of the AAPG & EAGE. Estimates ofoil-in-place arereported in accordance with the standard definitions set out by the Society of Petroleum Engineers, further information on which and a glossary of terms used in the oil and gas industry is available at www.spe.org.
vendorRelated Shares:
OEX.L