Vancouver, British Columbia, January 31, 2018. Newport Exploration Ltd (“Newport” or “the Company”) is pleased to provide an 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 their Revised FY2018 Guidance and Quarterly Report for the period ended 31 December 2017 (“Quarterly Report”), and reference should be made to their website for their interpretation of results and plans to bring wells into production.
PRODUCTION HIGHLIGHTS
The highlights of the Beach Quarterly Report, with respect to the permits subject to the Company’s royalty, are as follows;
Western Flank Oil – ex PEL 91
- Oil production of 821 kbbl (8,920 bopd) was 4% lower than the prior quarter, with active field development and production activities broadly offsetting natural field decline. This activity included five artificial lift installations which provided incremental production toward the end of the quarter of approximately 2,600 bopd.
- Stanleys-1 was brought online following installation of artificial lift. The well commenced production late in the quarter as a Birkhead Formation producer at a daily rate of approximately 170 bbl.
- Beach completed a further four artificial lift installations. A beam pump was commissioned at Bauer-26, Beach’s first Western Flank horizontal oil well. This work was completed in mid-December and resulted in incremental daily oil production of approximately 600 bbl. Electric submersible pumps were installed at Balgowan-1, Bauer-4 and Bauer-23 leading to initial incremental daily oil production of approximately 1,800 bbl.
- The Bauer flowline enhancement project was completed, expanding and redirecting certain lines to the new Bauer facility separators. This will allow increased flow rates and throughput from new and existing wells.
Western Flank Gas and Gas Liquids – ex PEL 91 & 106
- Quarterly production of 323 kboe (3,500 bopd) was 4% higher than the prior quarter and comprised sales gas of 225 kboe (up 6%), LPG of 51 kboe (up 3%) and condensate of 46 kboe (down 4%). (Note: With respect to the disclosure of “BOE’s”, in accordance with the Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities (51-101, 5.14(d)), it should be noted that for the value of this to the Company’s royalty payments, BOE conversion is based on an energy equivalent conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.)
- Mokami-1 and Crockery-1 were brought online in December 2017, which contributed to a peak daily production rate of 5.3 kboe and record monthly throughput of approximately 150 kboe at the Middleton facility.
- Engineering work continued on the phase 1 expansion of the Middleton facility, which will increase daily raw gas capacity from 25 MMscf to 40 MMscf. Beach expects completion late in its FY2018. Engineering work also commenced to bring online four currently cased and suspended wells from the initial phase of Beach’s FY2018 operated gas exploration program.
Western Flank Gas and Gas Liquids – ex PEL 513/632
- Ex PEL 513/632 contributed 24 kboe (net) of sales gas and gas liquids production, down 12% from the prior quarter due to natural field decline. (Newport only has a gross overriding royalty on ex PEL 632 and Beach do not break down the production between ex PEL 513 and 632)
EXPLORATION & APPRAISAL
Exploration and appraisal drilling on licenses that are subject to the Company’s royalty, and disclosed by Beach in its Quarterly Report, were disclosed in the Company’s news releases dated November 1, 2017, December 6, 2017 and January 10, 2018. For further information, please refer to those news releases, or Beach’s Quarterly Report.
Guidance
The Company receives its 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 forecast potential productivity and continues to strongly encourage shareholders and potential investors to access information released by Beach and Santos Ltd on 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.