Carnarvon Basin

Drillsearch holds interest in one exploration permit in the Dampier Sub-basin of the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia. Exploration and production within the Carnarvon Basin has been mostly concentrated in the central and distal parts of the basin. Drillsearch’s exploration permit is located closer to the shoreline in shallower water near the eastern margin of the basin.

The dominant fault trend within the Dampier Sub-basin is northeast-southwest and these faults have created a series of structural highs, which developed during successive extensional periods and thermal subsidence. Triassic to Early Cretaceous deposition in the Carnarvon basin was dominated by deltaic to marine facies overlain by slope, marls and prograding carbonate wedges of Mid-Cretaceous to Cainozoic. Long distance migration to areas east of the Lewis Trough has been proven by discoveries such as Legendre, Talisman and more recently Amulet.

Since the late 1960s the Carnarvon Basin has been the premiere oil and gas province in Western Australia. Cumulative production from the Carnarvon Basin to year end 2007 reached 1.28 billion barrels of oil, 590 million barrels of condensate, 102 million barrels of LPG, 6.5 billion cubic feet of LNG and 4.4 billion cubic feet of sales gas.Proven reserves within the basin are approximately 2.1 billion barrels of oil and 48.5 trillion cubic feet of gas.