US-based Strata-X has secured the provincial government's approval to explore 1.4 million acres of the onshore Canning Basin in Western Australia.
The company stated the project will be its first international venture in the prospective Canning Basin.
The permit is subject to Strata-X complying with the Native Title Act of 1993 which is expected to take between six and 12 months.
Strata-X expects that the L 11-3 onshore Canning Basin block holds potential for both conventional and unconventional petroleum within the Carboniferous Laurel Formation and for unconventional petroleum in the deeper Devonian Goldwyer Formation.
The Canning Basin has recently been identified as prospective for shale oil and gas exploration by ConocoPhillips and Mitsubishi through farm-in agreements.
The Canning Basin's Goldwyer Formation within the L11-3 block is also prospective for shale oil/gas.
A 2011 estimate by the US Energy Information Administration identified the potential of the Goldwyer Formation and found 229TCF of technically recoverable resources within the basin.
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