Woodside farms-in to Lake Tanganyika South Block

Jul 14, 2014

Map from Woodside Petroleum West Australian independent Woodside Petroleum Ltd. has farmed-in to the 7200sq km Lake Tanganyika South Block, Tanzania.

Beach Petroleum (Tanzania) Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of South Australia's Beach Energy Ltd., will transfer 70% of its 100% interest in the inland offshore block to Woodside, subject to approval by the Tanzanian Government.

Woodside will reimburse its share of back costs incurred by Beach Tanzania; fund a further round of seismic operations over the next 12 months; and contribute to Beach’s share of costs associated with an initial exploration well (subject to an agreed cap), should it elect to proceed with the program beyond the seismic operations, Beach reported.

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the farm-in provided an opportunity to secure a large acreage footprint in an exciting and underexplored oil prone frontier basin.

“Securing this highly prospective acreage represents another step forward in building Woodside’s global exploration portfolio,” Coleman said.

Beach says it will remain operator through the next stage of seismic operations and Woodside has the option to operate the block later.

Beach Managing Director, Reg Nelson, said, “The farm-out of the Lake Tanganyika South Block to Woodside is in line with Beach’s strategy of getting in early to prospective areas, and proving the potential of those areas with work undertaken, such as seismic operations. Bringing a world-class operator such as Woodside into this area will not only ensure Beach is carried to the next phase of exploration, but will also define initial drilling prospects as a result of the futher seismic work that will be undertaken.”

PSA history

Beach Tanzania currently holds 100% interest in the production sharing agreement for the Lake Tanganyika South Block. This was entered into with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the TPDC (Tanzanian state petroleum corporation) on 23 June 2010.

The TPDC granted Beach a one-year extension for the initial exploration period to 23 June 2015. The PSA is 11 years in total, now consisting of three phases of 5 + 3 + 3 years, with Beach Tanzania having satisfied all the requirements for the initial exploration period. Work completed as part of the initial exploration period includes high-resolution aeromagnetic and airborne gravity surveys in 2010 and a 2080km 2D seismic survey completed in August 2012.

China and Russia eye Tanzanian exploration, 22 May 2014

Beach reports seismic results from Lake Tanganyika, 1 April 2013