AWE advances Waitsia gas project in Western Australia

AWE, operator of the Waitsia gas project in Western Australia (WA) production licence L1/L2, has announced that the Waitsia Joint Venture (WJV) has made substantial advancement to prepare for Stage 2 of the Waitsia gas project.

The Waitsia gas project is located in Western Australia’s onshore Perth Basin.

WJV partners AWE and Origin Energy have approved the development budget.

Next year, the partners intend to drill final two appraisal wells necessary for Stage 2 of the project.

AWE CEO David Biggs said: “The Joint Venture has approved the budget and the schedule and we anticipate drilling Waitsia-3 and Waitsia-4 from April to June 2017, subject to approvals.

“These are the final appraisal wells planned ahead of Stage 2 development and will provide valuable data and potentially increase our 2P Reserves.”

AWE has also initiated a tender process for Waitsia Stage 2 gas sales and claimed to receive bid proposals for the same.

Biggs said: “We have received an exceptional response from potential customers with bid volumes totalling more than double the joint venture’s 2P Reserves. The decision to align with customer demand from 2020 onwards is bearing out and discussions with potential buyers are proceeding well.

 “Waitsia Stage 2 could supply 10% of WA’s domestic gas demand, 100 terajoules per day, for ten years. Feedback from potential customers indicates that gas from Waitsia Stage 2 is a welcome addition to the WA domestic gas market because it increases diversity of producers and offers a lower risk onshore supply train.

“The project is making excellent progress and AWE is targeting a final investment decision by the end of 2017.”

As Origin announced that they are considering an IPO of their upstream exploration and production assets, Biggs stated: “Although the information that Origin has provided to the market is understandably limited, a new entity that is purely focused on upstream exploration and production should be a positive for Waitsia and we do not anticipate any delays to our schedule.”

The Waitsia gas project is located nearly 367km north of Perth and 16.5km east-southeast of Dongara.

AWE focuses on upstream oil and gas opportunities.

Established in 1997, the company is based in Sydney, with project offices in Perth and New Zealand.