Equinor has been awarded exploration acreage in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore of Western Australia. The new exploration permit, WA-542-P, has been awarded to Equinor as operator and 100 per cent owner.
Equinor’s senior vice president for international offshore exploration, Paul McCafferty, says Equinor is pleased with this award as it expands their position in Australia with an exploration opportunity in a proven basin.
WA-542-P is located west of the recent Dorado oil discovery. The block covers 4815 square kilometres and lies about 100 kilometres from the Australian coast. The water depth ranges from 80 to 350 metres.
“An interesting new liquids play has emerged in this part of Australia’s northwest shelf and we are looking forward to assessing the potential in our new permit,” Mr McCafferty commented.
The work program for the block includes geological and geophysical studies, reprocessing of seismic data and new 3D seismic acquisition.
Equinor established an office in Australia in 2012 and is the operator for EPP39 and EPP40 in the Ceduna Basin offshore of South Australia.