The Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) has granted Strike Energy with exploration permits EP503 and EP504 in the Perth Basin.
Strike receives the permits after the conversion of EPA82 and EPA98, which is resultant from the conclusion of the Geraldton Alternate Settlement Agreement with the corresponding Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA).
The company reported that the grant of the permits would allow it to begin data acquisition over the South Erregulla project, starting with a 2D seismic survey in the first half of 2021.
Strike has awarded the 2D seismic survey contract to Velseis Seismic, which is expected to support the prospective resource already identified at South Erregulla.
The survey will help identify a potential well location on the South Erregulla structure for later this year.
The 140-line kilometre campaign has been designed to follow firebreaks, roads, tats and existing cleared areas to minimise environmental and landholder impact and allow approval and acquisition to be carried out.
Strike has also secured three rig slot options on the Ensign Rig 970 post the West Erregulla appraisal campaign.
South Erregulla-1 has been identified as a potential high value candidate for one of the three slots subject to final approval.
In addition, results from the West Erregulla 3 (WE3) drilling campaign demonstrated that the Carynginia shale is likely to be the true upper seal for the Kingia and High Cliff sandstones.
It also revealed that the learnings from WE3 bode well for additional commercial-convectional and hybrid play to be identified through the company’s Permian gas fairway permits and help prioritise further drilling targets.
Strike managing director and chief executive officer Stuart Nicholls said it was still early days in understanding the magnitude of discoverable gas in the Permian gas fairway of the Perth Basin.
“Discoveries at Waitsia, West Erregulla and Beharra in combination with new insights from Strike’s appraisal program and regional seismic evaluation are indicating multi-TCF upside in Strike’s Greater Erregulla permits alone,” Nicholls said.
“With the grant of these permits, Strike is now ready to commence a very exciting resource addition campaign where seismic crews and subsequent drilling slots are already identified and booked. This is a major positive for the company given the current scarceness of equipment.”