Chevron Buys Stake in Onshore Australian Gas Blocks

Chevron Australia has agreed to acquire working interest in two of Beach Energy’s onshore gas blocks covering an estimated 810,000 acres in the Cooper Basin in central Australia. The deal would be worth $349 million. 

The agreement provides an opportunity for Chevron to explore, evaluate and assess the potential for natural gas from shale and tight gas development in blocks PEL 218 and ATP 855, the company said.

Under the agreement, Chevron would acquire an initial 30 percent working interest in the Permian section of PEL 218 in South Australia and an 18 percent working interest in ATP 855 in Queensland. Ultimately, Chevron could earn 60 percent working interest in PEL 218 and 36 percent working interest in ATP 855 via staged earning.

Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski said, “We have an industry-leading queue of LNG projects under development in Australia and this agreement provides an opportunity to explore a new, prospective basin and potentially add to our natural gas portfolio. The Cooper Basin is an established petroleum producing basin and provides the opportunity to leverage our expertise in tight gas.”