ASX-listed independent oil and gas company, Melbana Energy Limited, has been awarded two additional petroleum exploration permits offshore of northern Australia on a 100 per cent basis.

Application was made for the permit areas under the Australian Government’s 2019 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release. The location of the permits, designated as WA-544-P and NT/P87, are highlighted in Figure 1. They have been awarded for an initial period of six years and are located adjacent to Melbana’s existing WA-488-P permit area that contains the Beehive Prospect.

The Beehive prospect is a 180 square kilometre isolated carbonate build-up of Carboniferous age with 400 metres of mapper vertical relief and a crest at 4,100 metres.

Beehive is analagous to the giant Tengiz field in the Caspian basin which is also a Carboniferous isolated carbonate build-up.

Today, Melbana Energy’s Executive Chairman, Andrew Purcell, said the award of the additional permits next to the company’s Beehive Prospect allows it to build on the knowledge gained studying WA-488-P to pursue other leads across a wider area.

“This additional running room makes the Beehive Prospect an even more exciting opportunity, particularly since the minimum work requirements can leverage Melbana’s in-house expertise before having to decide whether to commit to the larger work commitments in years 4 and beyond,” Mr Purcell said.

The work programs for each of these permit areas are outlined as per Table 1 and Table 2 below. The Minimum Work Requirements for the first three years of each permit area are guaranteed, following which Melbana may elect to proceed to permit year 4.