Vancouver, British Columbia, October 4th, 2017. Newport Exploration Ltd (“Newport” or “the Company”) provides an update on exploration activities on PRL 26 and ex PEL 91 in the Cooper Basin, Australia on which the Company has a 2.5% gross overriding royalty. This information was reported by Beach Energy Ltd (“Beach”) in a news release dated October 4th, 2017, and reference should be made to their website for their interpretation of the results and any plans to bring wells into production.
PRL 26 (Udacha Block)
Beach report the second gas well of its FY2018 operated exploration and appraisal campaign, Lowry-1, is located in the SWP play fairway approximately two kilometers northwest of the Middleton processing facility. The well is targeting stratigraphically trapped gas within the sands of the Patchawarra Formation. Lowry-1 spudded on 28 September 2017 and at month-end was drilling ahead at 929 metres.
Ex PEL 91
Beach report it continued its FY 2018 operated Birkhead oil exploration and appraisal campaign. The Birkhead Formation is a proven oil reservoir in Western Flank fields, however has not been subjected to playwide, focused exploration and appraisal. The FY 2018 program aims to establish commerciality and size of existing discoveries, appraise field extensions, discover new accumulations and design cost effective development programs.
The second vertical well of the campaign, Goldsmith-1, was drilled four kilometres north of Kangaroo-1 to test a potential northern extension of the Kangaroo Field. Oil shows were intersected in the target interval, however low reservoir quality resulted in side-tracking of the well approximately 400 metres west of the original target. The side-track did not intersect reservoir in the target interval and Goldsmith-1 was subsequently plugged and abandoned.
The first two vertical exploration wells of the FY2018 Birkhead campaign, Goldsmith-1 and Donington-1, were designed to test the true up-side of the Kangaroo Field. Based on the results, future drilling will be focused on the lower risk area in closer proximity to the Kangaroo Field. This will be appraised and developed along with existing Birkhead oil discoveries in the Stunsail, Pennington, and Stanleys fields. Horizontal development wells are planned for the second half of FY2018 and will commence upon completion of Beach’s operated gas exploration campaign.
The Company 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 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.