Vancouver, British Columbia, December 6th, 2017. Newport Exploration Ltd (“Newport” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide an exploration activity update on licences in the Cooper Basin, Australia over which the Company has a 2.5% gross overriding royalty. This information was reported by Beach Energy Ltd (“Beach”) in a News Release dated 6th December, 2017 and, reference should be made to their website for their interpretation of the results and any plans to bring wells into production.
Western Flank Gas – ex PEL 106
Beach continued its FY2018 operated gas exploration and appraisal campaign, which is focused on the Southwest Patchawarra (SWP) and Permian Edge (PE) play fairways. The fourth exploration well of the campaign, Naiko-1, is located in the SWP play fairway approximately two kilometres northeast of the Middleton gas facility. Naiko-1 was designed to test viability of the gas and condensate system within the SWP play fairway in the mid-to-lower intervals of the Patchawarra Formation. The well interested two metres of net pay in the mid interval and was cased and suspended as a future producer. An open hole drill stem test was conducted over the interval 2,692 to 2,697 metres and flowed at up to 5.8 MMscfd on a 32/64″ choke at 1,149 psi flowing tubing head pressure. Preliminary analysis of test results indicates that Naiko-1 is potentially connected to the Middleton Field and, as pressure is higher than at Middleton, will likely add reserves.
The campaign continued with the fifth well, Largs-1, located in the SPW immediately south of the Middleton gas facility. Similar to Naiko-1, the well is testing the viability of the gas and condensate system within the SWP play fairway in the mid-to-lower intervals of the Patchawarra Formation. At month-end Largs-1 had reached total depth of 2,284 metres and evaluation of the well was underway. A vertical seismic profile was conducted, augmenting existing regional seismic data in order to enhance evaluation of future drilling prospects.
As disclosed by Beach, in its news release dated 5th December, 2017, its FY2018 operated Western Flank gas drilling campaign has provided early success, with three discoveries from the program’s first four wells. These include Lowry-1, Crawford-1 and the Naiko-1 discovery, which was drilled in November 2017.
Beach reported, this continuing exploration success in the Western Flank, combined with continued strong demand for Cooper Basin gas, has validated Beach’s decision to pursue phase 1 expansion of the Middleton facility. Daily raw gas capacity will be increased from 25 MMscf to 40 MMscf through twinning of the gas export line from Middleton to Moonanga. Completion by the end of June 2018 is targeted and incremental gas will then be available for sale into the contract or spot markets.
Guidance
The Company receives a gross overriding royalty from the operator who is not a reporting issuer in Canada, and therefore, not required to comply with the requirements of NI 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities hence, Newport is not able to confirm if the disclosure satisfies the requirements of NI 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities, or other requirements of Canadian securities legislation.
The Company is unable to report on the potential productivity for each well and continues to strongly encourage shareholders and potential investors to access information released independently by Beach and Santos Ltd to keep current during exploration, development and production guidance of all the licences subject to the Company’s gross overriding royalty.
For further information contact:
Ian Rozier, Director and Chief Executive Officer
+1 604 685 6851
info@newport-exploration.com
www.newport-exploration.com
www.beachenergy.com.au
www.santos.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release.
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
This news release, which contains certain forward-looking statements, is intended to provide readers with a reasonable basis for assessing the financial performance of the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. The words “believe”, “should”, “could”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “contemplate”, “target”, “plan”, “intends”, “continue”, “budget”, “estimate”, “may”, “will”, “schedule” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements pertain to assumptions regarding the price of oil, fluctuations in currency markets (specifically the Australian dollar), and the future development of the Company’s project. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, which considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the risk of fluctuations in the assumed prices of oil, the risk of changes in government legislation including the risk of obtaining necessary licences and permits,, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, Australia or other countries in which the Company carries or may carry on business in the future, risks associated with developmental activities, the speculative nature of exploration and development, and assumed quantities or grades of reserves. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies may affect the Company’s actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, the Company. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those acknowledged in such statements.
The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable laws.