Adelaide, Jan 16, 2008 (ABN Newswire) - Beach Petroleum Limited's (ASX: "BPT") expanding coal seam gas assets have received another significant boost, with the announcement today of a major reserves upgrade for the producing Tipton West Field in central Queensland.
Proven reserves (1P) have escalated by 560% to 167 petajoules (PJ) from the previous Tipton West Field proven reserves of 25 PJ, while probable reserves (2P) for the Surat Basin Field have jumped from 174 PJ to 293 PJ.
Total 3P reserves for Tipton - located 25 kilometres south of Dalby - are now 2316 PJ. Beach has a 40% interest in the Tipton West Field with operator Arrow Energy Ltd (ASX: "AOE") holding a 60% interest.
Expressed in millions of barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe), the increase in Beach's 40% share of Tipton West reserves is summarised below:
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Jan-08 Dec-07 % Increase
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1P 11.5 1.6 +9.9
2P 20.2 11.8 +8.3
3P 159.3 155.6 +3.6
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(Beach's total reserves at 30 June 2007 were 89.6 MMBoe)
"This substantial reserves upgrade is in line with Beach Petroleum's confidence in the potential for expansion of the Tipton Field and associated coal seam gas reserves in the Surat Basin region," Beach Petroleum Managing Director, Mr Reg Nelson, said today.
"The upgrade is also a further significant boost to Australia's burgeoning coal seam gas industry which continued to make strong inroads with its contribution to the nation's energy needs," Mr Nelson said.
"For Beach and Arrow, it is another most pleasing result for one of the most successful and quietly achieving joint ventures in the coal seam gas industry," he said.
"Tipton West and surrounding areas host very large, undeveloped coal seam gas resources. which are ripe for expansion into a domestic gas market where demand is increasing and supply less certain after the abandonment in 2006 of the PNG gas pipeline project.
"Three new pilot projects on the field and ongoing exploration and certification programs there this year are expected to increase Tipton's 2P reserves further."
Mr Nelson said Beach's Tipton West field involvement continued to increase its role in the company's Australian oil and gas involvement generally.
"We look forward to coal seam gas making an even greater contribution to the progress of our company's petroleum reserves and earnings," he said.
"As Beach benefits from the growth of this sector, we would expect eventual market recognition for our net 3P coal seam gas reserves in this region, reflecting both their location close to trunk pipelines and the increasing demand from industrial users."
The Tipton reserves upgrade is a result of development drilling and continued strong production trends in the field and includes reserves from the Tarooms coal seam measures for the first time.
The Tipton JV is currently in the early stages of two successful pilots in the Tarooms, with the pilot plants producing a total of 2 million cubic feet a day of gas after a short dewatering period of 2-3 months.
"Certification of Tarooms reserves are of particular value as development of the Tarooms will require significantly reduced investment through sharing of infrastructure with existing Juandah seams wells," he said.
The first development phase at Tipton West was completed a year ago, with the Beach- Arrow joint venture enjoying first gas sales from February last year under a 15 year contract to provide 136 PJ over 15 years to the new 450 MW Braemar power station, 45 kilometres to the northwest of the field.
