Carnarvon Petroleum Limited, an independent oil company based in Australia, has said that the fact that Apache is selling its Australian business will not affect drilling plans for the Roc-1 offshore exploration well.

Apache, the operator of the Roc-1 well where Carnarvon is a partner, said yesterday it would sell its Australian subsidiary to a consortium of private equity funds managed by Macquarie Capital Group Limited and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. for cash payment of $2.1 billion.

As for the Roc-1, the well is located offshore W. Australia in the WA-437-P permit, and according to Carnarvon’s recent presentation, it has oil recoverable of between 12 and 133 million barrels, with a best estimate of 42 million, classed as Prospective Resource.

The Roc-1 well, situated in a licence adjacent to the recent Phoenix South-1 oil discovery by Apache, is scheduled to be drilled in the fourth quarter of calendar 2015.

With the announcement of the sale of its Australian subsidiary Apache Energy Limited, Apache is fully exiting its exploration and production business in Australia. The sale is expected to close mid-year 2015.

According to the original agreement with Carnarvon, the cost of the Roc-1 well was supposed to be covered by Apache and JX Nippon to US$70 million. Carnarvon did not say if this part of the agreement is still effective.

The equity interest holders in WA-435-P and WA-437-P are: Carnarvon Petroleum 20%; Apache Energy (Operator) 40%; JX Nippon 20%; Finder Exploration 20%.

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com

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