UPDATED: Pan Pacific shares jump on Timor Sea announcement

Wednesday 30th September 2009

Dual-listed oil and gas explorer Pan Pacific Petroleum NL is taking a 15% interest in a highly prospective Timor Sea drilling programme due to start by the end of the year.

Australian-based Pan Pacific, which is itself 15% owned by New Zealand Oil and Gas, came off trading halt imposed earlier in the week on both the NZX and ASX.

Pan Pacific continued its stellar run immediately following the announcement, rising a further 7.3% to 74 cents, taking gains over the last 12 months to 165.4%. There was no immediate change to the NZOG share price.

The farm-in sees Pan Pacific buy 5% interests from each of three current partners, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Gujurat State Petroleum Corporation, and Global Energy, each of which will still hold 20% interests in licence area JPDA 06-103, an area to the east of Timor Leste in an area jointly managed with Australia.

A semi-submersible rig, the Songa Mercur, is scheduled to move from its current location and onto the licence area in November, and is contracted to drill up to three exploratory wells. The first two are "on prospects which the Operator recently reported as having recoverable mean prospective resource (on 100% basis) of 195 million barrels of oil (Lore) and 90 million barrels of oil (Lolotoe)", the company said in a statement.

The field operator is Oilex, which holds a 10% stake in the prospect. The value of the farm-in was not disclosed.

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet