Armour Energy has secured Pinemont Technologies Australia, a specialist geophysical service provider, to acquire airborne geophysical data over its Northern Territory acreage.
The 20,000km2 airborne survey will cover all or substantial portion of five exploration permits, including EPs 171, 174, 176, 190 and 191, and exploration application area EP 193.
Armour’s large portfolio of leads and prospects includes multiple features within four geological horizons that are adjacent to or lie directly over deeper parts of the McArthur Basin and the Beetaloo Sub-Basin that are proven hydrocarbon kitchens.
The kitchen areas are known to produce both oil and gas as demonstrated by several of the company’s discoveries across multiple conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon bearing zones.
The company outline that is has identified 193 conventional leads and prospects along this conventional play fairway and the airborne survey is aimed at both high-grading the existing leads and prospects, and identifying additional conventional leads and prospects.
Pinemont Technologies Australia will use its patented passive airborne survey technology (AEM-PTP) to measure a geophysical response associated with variability in elements of the earth’s electromagnetic field interacting with REDOX cells.
REDOX cells can form in association with the upward fluid flow of migrating hydrocarbons an micro-seepage from hydrocarbon accumulations.
Armour has reported that once the data is collected, it will help the company mitigate risk associated with potential hydrocarbon migration pathways and hydrocarbon reservoir charge.
The data is expected to also provide focus upon areas of exploration interest and provide a measure against which to de-risk, rank and high-grade exisiting leads and prospects.
Chief executive officer Brad Lingo said it was an important moment for Armour and McArthur Oil and Gas to restart a very focused exploration program covering the company’s extensive exploration holdings in the McArthur Basin.
“One of the challenges for the company and McArthur, is that Armour’s exploration holdings in the Northern Territory are so extensive and encompass multiple play types both conventional and unconventional, is where to focus our exploration efforts to deliver material results as early as possible,” Lingo said.
“We believe that the airborne geophysical survey will hold high-grade key areas of focus when tied together with the historical discoveries, and we expect that the survey will help the company focus on where to target the next phase of exploration as well as complement the development program for the Glyde conventional gas discovery.”
The survey acquisition is expected to take around 35 days and will be progressively undertaken across July and August this year, with results available from September.