Norwest Energy has A$3M cash in the bank to help it lock in a rig for its 20% share of the highly anticipated Lockyer Deep-1 exploration well that is only 15kms north of Strike Resources’ huge West Erregulla gas discovery in Western Australia. Norwest said it was working with the operator and partner, Mineral Resources to secure a rig contract after locking in site access with the local landowner east of Dongara in WA.
The company said negotiations to secure a rig to drill Lockyer Deep-1 had proven difficult in the current COVID-19 climate but all operators in the area were collaborating to secure a multi-well rig contract that would benefit all permit holders and reduce costs on each well.
Lockyer Deep-1 is located in the Northern Perth basin where Norwest has managed to team up with Chris Ellison’s $2.6 billion market capped Mineral Resources to drill the well. Mineral Resources holds an 80 per cent working interest in the well that is also just 15 kilometres east of Beach Energy and Mitsui’s giant Waitsia gas field.
The company said its Lockyer Deep-1 prospect has the potential to hold up to 1.12 TCF of prospective resources in its own right with Norwest’s share of that possibly being a substantial 224 billion cubic feet of gas.
Management said that a 12-month suspension and extension had been agreed with the State Government regulator to allow time for the joint venture to get a rig contracted and the well drilled.
The Iain Smith-led Norwest said it had topped up its cash balance with the receipt of a research and development tax rebate of A$191,789 this month relating to the shallow water 3-dimensional seismic survey acquired by Norwest over the Xanadu oil discovery, immediately offshore from Dongara.
Norwest management said it expects another tax rebate to be delivered after the end of the current financial year however it did not elaborate on the possible amount. The company’s technical team is continuing to work to find a way to commercialise the Xanadu oil discovery and to find further deep prospects underneath Xanadu that could be similar to Waitsia and possibly oil-rich.
Norwest is now well and truly cashed up to see it through to funding its 20 percent working share of the Lockyer Deep-1 gas exploration well and the market will no doubt be watching for progress on rig negotiations as the shackles are released from intra- and interstate movements to facilitate the arrival of a rig to drill its high impact prospect.
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By Matt Birney
