LOCAL junior oil producer Voyager Energy is considering forays into gas and possibly renewable energy after cashing in on a Queensland asset sale.
However, Voyager would first like more of the action in the Perth Basin, such as in the producing Jingemia oil field that it already has a 6.27 per cent interest in and in the Cliff Head field for which a commercial development announcement is expected by next quarter.
Voyager has just sold its 40.9 per cent interest in the producing south west Queensland Nockatunga oil field to Magellan Petroleum for $2 million and is now concentrated entirely on the Perth Basin.
Including the sale, Voyager will have $3 million cash on hand from next month and an undrawn $0.4 million loan facility.
It says it will only need to raise money in the short term to fund a new acquisition.
Voyager’s expected development costs for Jingemia are $0.72 million to late 2004 and, for the offshore Cliff Head, the forecast costs are $7.5 million to early 2005 – most of that due from the second half of next year.
Voyager managing director John Begg said existing working capital was expected to cover expenditure through to the third quarter next year and Cliff Head, of which Voyager now holds 5 per cent, would be project-financed.
Jingemia is likely to be in full production in the first quarter next year and, by August 2005, the company is expecting net operating income to reach $13 million.
From March next year Voyager is expecting its net oil production to be 250 barrels per day from Jingemia – up from the 140 from Nockatunga.
By August 2005 the company is expecting to be producing a combined 1,200 barrels per day from Cliff Head and Jingemia.
Mr Begg said Voyager had interests in seven Perth Basin licences and additional equity in fields such as Cliff Head and Jingemia would build cashflow to fund further exploration.
Currently the onshore nearby Hovea and Jingemia fields are estimated to hold 10 and five million barrels respectively, however, Cliff Head is estimated at between 20 and 30 million barrels recoverable.
Another lead in the same permit as Cliff Head indicates a separate possible 50 million barrel field.
Further seismic surveying is expected to build on what was described as encouraging oil shows last summer in two other offshore prospects close to Cliff Head – Vindara and Mentelle.
Based on historic exploration statistics, Voyager predicts larger fields are still to be discovered in the Perth Basin.
The perceived prospectivity is backed up by Tap Oil’s demonstrated interest in major Perth Basin player Arc Energy.
Tap’s senior partner in the Carnarvon Basin Harriet joint venture, Apache Energy, has also seen value in the area, buying into three adjoining offshore northern permits.
Next year’s drilling in these permits is keenly awaited, following interpretation of 3D seismic data.
Two current leads are indicating a possible 50 million and 100 million barrels respectively.
While the surveying is not cheap, the possible rewards are worth it for companies such as Voyager whose Perth Basin commitment to gravity, magnetics, 2D and 3D surveying for the second half of the year is $0.72 million.
“Our plan is to be production-based and from there to fund further exploration,” Mr Begg said.
Apache reported 8 per cent and 16 per cent drops in its Australian oil and gas production respectively for the first quarter this year, compared with the same period last year.
The corporation heads the Harriet joint venture in the Carnarvon Basin, with junior partners Tap Oil (12.3 per cent) and Kufpec Australia (19.28 per cent).
In the Perth Basin it holds 28.75 per cent of WA 226P, and 37.5 per cent of both WA 325P and WA 327P.
Its partners in WA 226P include operator Origin Energy (28.75 per cent), Dana Petroleum (30 per cent), Norwest Energy (7.5 per cent), and Voyager (5 per cent).
The other WA 325P and WA 327P partners include Cliff Head operator Roc Oil (37.5 per cent), Voyager (15 per cent) and Bounty Oil & Gas (10 per cent).
Voyager began its rationalisation in January, with an agreement to sell its onshore Canning Basin assets, near Derby, to Gulliver productions.
