Zola May Hold More Gas

The Greater Zola field off the coast of Western Australia has thrown up a potential of holding more than its pre-drill estimate of 2 trillion cubic feet of gas, junior partner of the project, Tap Oil has said.

A revised assessment of the Zola-1 exploration well in WA-290-P, in the Carnarvon basin off the coast of Western Australia had revealed an average contingent resource of 378 billion cubic feet, within a range of 209 Bcf to 584 Bcf, at one of the many fault blocks that comprise the field.

The assessment confirmed a “resource potential significantly greater than the upper end of our pre-drill estimate,” Tap Oil CEO Troy Hayden said in a communication to the Australian Securities Exchange on Monday.

“We'll now work through various options for extracting the highest value for Tap shareholders from the Zola asset,” he said.

Tap hopes to complete the processing of seismic data within May 2012 which is likely to be followed by drilling.

The well location could provide it with multiple potential development options as a result of which Tap has already received enquiries from “large overseas players about its plans for Zola”, the company said.

“Tap is confident that it can maximise the value of Zola by monetising the asset on attractive terms at the right time,” it said.

Apache Northwest is the project operator with 30.25%, while Santos Offshore holds 24.75, followed by OMV Australia 20%, Nippon Oil Exploration 15% and Tap Oil the balance 10%.