Rodinia Oil Corporation’s wholly-owned Australian subsidiary, Officer Basin Energy, has awarded the contract for its planned Phase III Officer Basin seismic survey to Terrex Seismic of Perth. This survey consists of approximately 1,900 km of 2D seismic on PEL 81 and PEL 253 in South Australia and is expected to cost US$13.5 million gross (US$10.8 million net to Rodinia).
This Phase III seismic program is scheduled to commence in October 2010 and is expected to take approximately six months to complete. In this survey, Rodinia has added a small number of additional lines to its current top ten drill leads (Focus Area 1).
These lines are to be acquired early in the program so that they can be interpreted prior to the drilling campaign, to further optimise target definition and reduce exploration risk. The Phase III seismic program also consists of new seismic in areas of previous limited seismic coverage, such as Focus Area 2 (the east end of PEL 81) and infill seismic to convert leads into drillable prospects in the sparse seismic grid on the East end of Focus Area 1 (central PEL 81).
"We are very pleased to have this seismic survey undertaken and completed by Terrex Seismic," said Paul Bennett, President and CEO of Rodinia. "High quality seismic data is extremely important to be able to select the best locations. Analysis, processing and interpretation of this data will enable us to continue with our progress and future drilling projects."
Terrex Seismic, which successfully completed previous surveys for Rodinia in the Officer Basin, is planning to utilise a specialist Frontier Basin Seismic Crew for this survey. This crew will have special vehicles and camp equipment to operate efficiently in the remote areas of the Great Victoria Dessert.
Rodinia has already identified numerous prospects in the Officer Basin in Focus Area 1. However, due to the vast areas and limited existing seismic, it is necessary to augment the existing seismic coverage to further evaluate the potential of the basin on Rodinia”s lands and to high-grade additional prospects to the drill-ready stage.