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Melbana strikes oil before main targets

ASX-listed Melbana Energy (MAY) has made significant progress at its onshore oil exploration campaign in Cuba, and has already encountered surprise hydrocarbons at its first well, Alameda-1.

Melbana’s two-well campaign is perhaps one of the most exciting to be drilled by a company listed on the local bourse this year.

The Alameda-1 well has already hit oil and gas, well before its main targets. It was spud in early September and quickly encountered strong pressure and oil shows.

“Almost as soon as we started drilling, we entered an oil interval that continued for over 600 metres in an area that wasn’t one of our prospects,” Melbana executive chairman Andrew Purcell told Energy News.

“This is a bonus, and we are very excited to see what this means.”

There are three different areas of interest Alameda-1 is targeting: Amistad (the shallowest target), N Structure, and Alameda.

In total, the three structures are estimated to contain a resource of 141 million barrels of oil.

It is preparing to drill ahead at Alameda-1 this week and if the results to date are anything to go by, we can expect more exciting news around the new year.

Zapato-1 is the second well in the campaign and is targeting a similarly massive resource of 95 million barrels of oil. It will be drilled directly after Alameda-1 using the same rig from Sherrit International.

While many ASX listed explorers chase small to mid-sized prospects domestically, Melbana’s mantra is, go big, or go home.

An underexplored PSC:

Melbana’s tenement is called Block 9 and covers a massive 2344 square kilometres on the northern coast of the island nation.

It is about 140km east of Havana and sits on an extensive hydrocarbon system which has historically seen major discoveries such as the Varadero oil field.

Varadero was an 11-billion-barrel crude discovery and quickly became Cuba’s most important oil field supplying the domestic electricity market.

Notably, Cuba generates over 90% of its domestic electricity from hydrocarbons, namely oil.

As operator, alongside Angolan state-owned oiler Sonangol, Melbana holds a 30% interest in the block.

“Our partner is writing most of the cheques, which we are very appreciative for, but we are the operator,” Purcell said.

While it is somewhat early days for Melbana, the company is charging ahead and if it hits the mammoth payload it hopes to, has two options to market.

The domestic energy market sorely needs new investment and new development to meet increasing electricity demand.

Melbana will sell any oil produced to the domestic market, at the same price it would to international markets.

Infrastructure is already available with pipelines and storage to the north.

At current benchmark oil prices, if the wells come up productive, Melbana Energy will move from being an explorer to a producer of scale.

IT is the largest untapped gas play on the planet – the onshore Beetaloo and broader McArthur basins.

Two companies – Armour Energy and Tamboran Resources – hold vast acreage positions which once developed could solve an impending energy crisis in Australia.

It comes as the world grapples with the challenge of the energy transition, which can only be accomplished with gas.

Furthermore, as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, gas will play a vital role in providing energy security across Australia. The Top End is well positioned to take advantage of soaring demand in decades to come.

Tamboran, founded in 2009, was a first mover in the onshore region and farmed out a stake in its project to Santos. The ASX-listed company is currently working with Sanots to de-risk its premium acreage footprint, with a view to supply natural gas to LNG hubs for export and pipe gas to the east coast domestic market.

Armour Energy is also listed on the local bourse and is already a gas producer. It is working to spin off its acreage into a new company called McArthur Oil & Gas.

In this special edition feature discussion for the annual Northern Territory Resources Week and SEAOCC, Energy News senior journalist Paul Hunt is joined by Tamboran CEO Joel Riddle, Armour Energy/McArthur Oil & Gas chief Brad Lingo, and the head of the NT Gas Taskforce Alister Trier, to discuss the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Australia is currently battling high electricity prices after gas demand from both domestic and international markets tightened drastically over the last 12 months.

The Gippsland Basin – which has powered the east coast for decades is running out of gas – renewables currently cannot keep up. Does Empire Energy and its assets in the Beetaloo hold the answer over the next decade?

According to the latest Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) report, without new production along with gas import terminals, Australia could grapple with an energy emergency.

The AEMO Gas Statement of Opportunities – the leading report providing a realistic gas outlook in Australia – the country needs urgent gas supply.

AEMO has singled out the Beetaloo Basin as the potential source for this gas.

Australia is in a mining boom where miners are happy to secure gas at all-time highs to power projects which underwrite Australia’s economy.

During this quarter, energy prices hit new highs in Queensland. Prices across the rest of the nation are still high too.

This is not just a problem Australia is facing. In Europe energy prices recently hit all-time highs. This was because there, put quite simply, wasn’t enough wind or sun to power renewable based generation.

Data from the Office of the Chief Economist warns of global gas shortfalls. While the US and Qatar will play an important part in meeting this demand, Australia remains the biggest producer and exporter of LNG to international markets.

At the same time, international trading partners – from China to Japan – are buying up cargos of LNG, which is keeping pressure on the market. The latest data showed Chinese LNG demand is outpacing Japan's and will continue to grow. Australian exports of LNG are near record highs.

This demand for gas, both domestically and internationally, is not expected to let up any time soon. Not for decades.

So, is the Beetaloo Basin the answer? Well, yes.

Even with Santos’ massive Narrabri coal seam gas project in New South Wales.

In fact, there’s talk of importing LNG from Queensland and Western Australia to feed electricity demand in NSW and Vic.

However, this will cost more than piping gas.

The Beetaloo Basin of the Northern Territory could be a more affordable option for domestic consumers, while allowing LNG exports (the second biggest export in Australia) to continue providing economic benefits for the nation.

In this special feature interview, Energy News senior journalist Paul Hunt discusses the game-changing project operated by Empire Energy, and the future of energy security in Australia.

He was joined by Empire Energy managing director Alex Underwood.

SATURN Oil & Gas is listed is on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture (TSXV: SOIL) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE: SMK).

While 2020-2021 was a challenging time for the oil and gas industry generally, Saturn Oil turned lemons into… well... oil.

It made a game changing acquisition this year, buying a massive parcel of land dubbed the Oxbow project in the southeast region of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Saskatchewan is of course one of the two biggest oil producing provinces in Canada and feeds hungry domestic and international markets with light crude produced onshore.

The deal saw Saturn Oil buy thousands of producing or soon-to-be-producing wells. In fact, now the deal is sealed, it will deliver approximately 6700 barrels of oil equivalent per day into the company’s balance sheet.

This is a 2000% increase on its current production rate. Something you cannot laugh at all.

At international benchmark prices, this is nothing but a windfall for the company which was only recently called a junior.

Saturn Oil has now officially become one of the leading independent oil producers in the country, almost overnight, thanks to this acquisition.

The Oxbow project is expected to generate between US$65 million to US$70 million in net revenue over the next 12 months alone.

Saturn Oil already had a track record of developing land other companies had overlooked, or just not invested in.

It’s this strategy which brings Saturn Oil into the sights of investors internationally, and one of the reasons why we’re covering this company in detail.

“We’ve created value where others have missed it,” Saturn chief executive John Jeffery told Energy News Au.

“Prior to Oxbow we’d never purchased land without a reserve booked on it, however. This acquisition gives us a major production base and serves as a cash cow for future projects.”

The proof is certainly in the pudding, by our book.

“Not only does Oxbow have significant upside… but at current oil prices, we’ll be able to pay off all debt in the next three years.

The acquisition was well-received by investors when first announced.

Saturn Oil went to market with a market cap of under $50 million. It raised $130 million in capital to buy Oxbow, which shows how bullish investors are.

With steady cash flow, the company is now looking to invest in future production. This will involve both workovers and new wells.

SATURN Oil & Gas is listed is on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture (TSXV: SOIL) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE: SMK).

While 2020-2021 was a challenging time for the oil and gas industry generally, Saturn Oil turned lemons into… well... oil.

It made a game changing acquisition this year, buying a massive parcel of land dubbed the Oxbow project in the southeast region of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Saskatchewan is of course one of the two biggest oil producing provinces in Canada and feeds hungry domestic and international markets with light crude produced onshore.

The deal saw Saturn Oil buy thousands of producing or soon-to-be-producing wells. In fact, now the deal is sealed, it will deliver approximately 6700 barrels of oil equivalent per day into the company’s balance sheet.

This is a 2000% increase on its current production rate. Something you cannot laugh at all.

At international benchmark prices, this is nothing but a windfall for the company which was only recently called a junior.

Saturn Oil has now officially become one of the leading independent oil producers in the country, almost overnight, thanks to this acquisition.

The Oxbow project is expected to generate between US$65 million to US$70 million in net revenue over the next 12 months alone.

Saturn Oil already had a track record of developing land other companies had overlooked, or just not invested in.

It’s this strategy which brings Saturn Oil into the sights of investors internationally, and one of the reasons why we’re covering this company in detail.

“We’ve created value where others have missed it,” Saturn chief executive John Jeffery told Energy News Au.

“Prior to Oxbow we’d never purchased land without a reserve booked on it, however. This acquisition gives us a major production base and serves as a cash cow for future projects.”

The proof is certainly in the pudding, by our book.

“Not only does Oxbow have significant upside… but at current oil prices, we’ll be able to pay off all debt in the next three years.

The acquisition was well-received by investors when first announced.

Saturn Oil went to market with a market cap of under $50 million. It raised $130 million in capital to buy Oxbow, which shows how bullish investors are.

With steady cash flow, the company is now looking to invest in future production. This will involve both workovers and new wells.

SATURN Oil & Gas is listed is on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture (TSXV: SOIL) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE: SMK).

While 2020-2021 was a challenging time for the oil and gas industry generally, Saturn Oil turned lemons into… well... oil.

It made a game changing acquisition this year, buying a massive parcel of land dubbed the Oxbow project in the southeast region of Saskatchewan, Canada.

Saskatchewan is of course one of the two biggest oil producing provinces in Canada and feeds hungry domestic and international markets with light crude produced onshore.

The deal saw Saturn Oil buy thousands of producing or soon-to-be-producing wells. In fact, now the deal is sealed, it will deliver approximately 6700 barrels of oil equivalent per day into the company’s balance sheet.

This is a 2000% increase on its current production rate. Something you cannot laugh at all.

At international benchmark prices, this is nothing but a windfall for the company which was only recently called a junior.

Saturn Oil has now officially become one of the leading independent oil producers in the country, almost overnight, thanks to this acquisition.

The Oxbow project is expected to generate between US$65 million to US$70 million in net revenue over the next 12 months alone.

Saturn Oil already had a track record of developing land other companies had overlooked, or just not invested in.

It’s this strategy which brings Saturn Oil into the sights of investors internationally, and one of the reasons why we’re covering this company in detail.

“We’ve created value where others have missed it,” Saturn chief executive John Jeffery told Energy News Au.

“Prior to Oxbow we’d never purchased land without a reserve booked on it, however. This acquisition gives us a major production base and serves as a cash cow for future projects.”

The proof is certainly in the pudding, by our book.

“Not only does Oxbow have significant upside… but at current oil prices, we’ll be able to pay off all debt in the next three years.

The acquisition was well-received by investors when first announced.

Saturn Oil went to market with a market cap of under $50 million. It raised $130 million in capital to buy Oxbow, which shows how bullish investors are.

With steady cash flow, the company is now looking to invest in future production. This will involve both workovers and new wells.

Triangle Energy is going from strength to strength following a recent capital raise, as investors stream around the junior.

What’s peaked investors interest? Hearing how Triangle quickly acquired one of the biggest footprints of any energy company of its kind in Western Australia’s most exciting oil and gas province. Along with its new energy opportunities.

The company, led by well-known chief executive Rob Towner, has an incredible portfolio of acreage and is preparing to embark on its diversified energy strategy.

Triangle Energy (ASX:TEG) is perhaps the most underestimated stock on the Australian Securities Exchange with a market cap of around $22 million.

With an already producing oil field offshore Western Australia, Triangle Energy receives regular revenue, something more than half the oil stocks in Australia can’t boast.

In other words, the stock is stable, which in this climate is something highly sought-after.

It also holds a huge stake in fellow ASX stock State Gas, worth roughly $30 million, which is bigger than its market cap, all but ensuring returns for investors.

Not only does it possess a strong balance sheet and fixed interest in other companies, but it is also focused on growth of its own and has the potential to corner a lucrative market in WA.

Triangle’s offshore Cliff Head oilfield is set to ramp up exponentially. Two, perhaps three, additional wells will provide new oil output, which will be shipped to Singapore in the short-to-medium term. At the current $65-$70/bbl benchmark price, this should be an absolute windfall.

Cash from oil production will fill its coffers while it looks to explore a whopping 10,000sq.km of onshore acreage.

Triangle moved quickly to capitalise on the last oil price downturn, acquiring an enviable position onshore and offshore in the Perth Basin – which has delivered a fantastic results for fellow explorer Strike Energy and others.

A point worth noting, is the ownership and operatorship of the Arrowsmith Stabilisation Plant.

The plant essentially separates oil from water, but it cannot be underestimated.

Triangle Energy is currently considering a small-scale refinery onsite. It comes as the nation currently grapples with a loss of refineries and a need to shore up energy security, which leads the question… could this project change the game?

Diesel supplied from Arrowsmith and an added-on small-scale diesel refinery could power WA’s iron ore industry.

The refinery would take Cliff Head oil and new resources from Triangle’s onshore fields, and simply refine it for mining vehicles and power generation.

This plant is one of just handful in Australia, never mind WA where there is no commercial oil refinery.

Nat gas is important to note here. Triangle Energy holds a very vast position of prominent gas producing acreage. It’s early days, but if a gas discovery were made, it could quickly tie-in to one of the many pipelines supplying both the domestic gas market and the mining sector.

However, that’s just one of the many exciting opportunities for the ASX-listed junior.

Another reason to be bullish, is Triangle’s future plans as a renewable energy producer.

It has partnered with Pilot Energy – also ASX listed – led by Brad Lingo.

The venture plan to investigate the offshore wind, and potential onshore solar, capability of Triangle’s permits.

So, Triangle Energy may not just be an oil producer and gas supplier in the future. It’s future-proofed itself.

It already has the infrastructure for offshore wind, in that the pipeline from the Cliff Head field could also take cables to shore.

Currently there are no offshore wind projects up and running in Australia.

Is Triangle Energy, a traditional oil producer, about to forge the future for offshore wind?

We won’t assume anything but these three points alone purely make #ASX listed #TEG is a winner.

PODCAST: Three points to Triangle Energy’s success

Aussie oil producer holds key to supply security in WA

WESTERN Australian oil producer Triangle Energy (ASX:TEG) owns a massive footprint of prime acreage in the onshore and offshore Perth Basin.

The company, led by well-known executive Rob Towner, has three key points of difference to other oil and gas explorers and producers in Australia.

For a start, it already has a producing oil field offshore the MidWest of Western Australia called Cliff Head.

Triangle Energy plans a low-cost redevelopment of the field, which will target three prospects known as Mentelle, Western Development, and South East Nose.

At a cost of just $20 million, the wells will intersect three “drill ready” prospects to boost production from the field to between 4000 and 10,000 barrels of oil per day.

The Cliff Head project contains 1.2 million barrels in proven reserves, but could hold as much as 9.3 million barrels of oil on a best prospective resource basis.

Plans are already underway for the redevelopment and can be drilled from the already existing Cliff Head platform.

The platform is in shallow waters just of Dongara and is connected to a plant called Arrowsmith by a 12-kilometre pipeline.

Arrowsmith is the start of the refining process, separating water from crude and delivering oil which is then trucked to BP’s Kwinana terminal to the south.

Oil is then stored at Kwinana and then exported to Singapore for international markets.

The pipeline which connects Cliff Head to Arrowsmith is critical infrastructure, in that it could also be modified to include potential offshore wind connection to the WA grid.

Meanwhile the Arrowsmith plant, which has a capacity to refine 15,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, is a highly sought-after facility.

With interest peaking in onshore oil exploration in Western Australia, the Arrowsmith plant could be used for third-party processing going forward.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg for Triangle, because it holds a vast 10,000 square kilometres of exploration acreage where oil has been found before.

It owns the Mt Horner L7 permit along with the adjacent EP 437 permit onshore. Triangle Energy will undertake 3D seismic surveys across the permits to unlock future discoveries.

The Mt Horner project has already produced 1.8 million barrels of oil to date, but holds many exploration opportunities.

Offshore again, Triangle Energy owns the WA-481-P licence, surrounding its Cliff Head project which is one of the largest underexplored permits in Australia.

Triangle Energy has teamed up with fellow ASX-lister Pilot Energy to pursue both oil exploration and look to a offshore wind project in the future.

AUSTRALIAN headquartered Melbana Energy is a stock to watch this year as prepares to spud two high-impact oil exploration wells in Cuba.

Melbana Energy (ASX:MAY) is an oil and gas explorer with more than 20 years' experience led by some of the most well-known experts in the business.

While many ASX listed explorers chase small to mid-sized prospects domestically, Melbana Energy's mantra is, go big or go home.

It chases elephant-sized prospects and will drill two wells in Cuba this year targeting billions of barrels of oil at its Block 9 project.

Melbana Energy appointed experienced drilling contractor Sherritt International in March, with a view to spud its first well, Alameda-1, in the coming months.

Alameda-1 is a conventional stacked play targeting a three structures; the primary Alameda prospect, the shallower N structure as well as the Amistad prospect.

Combined these three structures could hold 141 million barrels of oil on a best estimate resource basis.

The second well, called Zapato-1 is in close proximity to the high quality Motembo oil field which is potentially even bigger than the three stacked plays at Alameda-1.

Zapato is estimated to hold as much as 95 million barrels of crude on a best estimate basis, however on a high estimate could host as much as 214 million barrels.

Existing oil fields near Melbana Energy's project yielded as much as 11 billion barrels of oil historically, offering further excitement around the two-well campaign.

At current benchmark oil prices, if the wells come up productive, Melbana Energy will move from being an explorer to a producer.

In fact, it has also struck an agreement with the government of Cuba to sell the oil to them at benchmark global oil prices or the international market.

So, why Cuba? Melbana Energy executive chairman Andrew Purcell sums it up nicely.

"Try replicating projects of our size in Australia."

In this podcast, Energy News senior journalist Paul Hunt talks to Melbana Energy executive chairman Andrew Purcell about the future of a potential discovery, what an initial development could look like, and the current state of the energy market.

AUSTRALIAN headquartered Elixir Energy has quickly become one of the most exciting oil and gas stocks on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Elixir Energy (ASX: EXR) is creating a whole new gas market in Mongolia which is home to vast coal reserves, and of course coal seam gas.

The company, led by managing director Neil Young, holds around 7 million acres of highly prospective land in the Southern Gobi desert.

It released its maiden resource estimate in April, based on just 2% of its acreage, dubbed Nom Gom XI, with 60 billion cubic feet of gas on a 2C basis, and 24 Bcf of recoverable gas.

This estimate is more than sufficient to provide feed gas for a power plant’s entire life cycle, offering electricity to the domestic market, but also opening opportunities for LNG provision to local mining companies and export to China.

Gas is fast becoming the transition fuel of the future and it is also expected to replace Mongolia’s ageing coal power plant fleet which are heading to the end of their lives.

Furthermore, mining companies including Rio Tinto which operates the huge Oyu Tolgoi copper mine, are seeking power for their processing plants and to replace their diesel trucks with LNG fuelled vehicles.

In this podcast, Energy News’ senior journalist Paul Hunt talks to Elixir Energy managing director Neil Young about the future of the discovery, what an initial development could look like, and the current state of the energy market in China and Mongolia.