(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors - Australia) Tap Oil (ASX: TAP) is closer to participating in unconventional oil and gas exploration in the onshore Carnarvon Basin after private company Rusa Resources was awarded two special prospecting authorities.
Rusa holds full equity ownership of the two SPAs, which cover a total of 38,000 square kilometres and include acreage options allowing a percentage of the areas to be converted into exploration permits.
Tap will earn the right to take a 20% interest in the resulting exploration permits on election, with
the option to earn an additional 15% in each permit.
The acreage contains a large part of the Palaeozoic Merlinleigh Sub-basin with the exploration focus primarily on the unconventional plays.
Main targets include Permian shale gas and Devonian shale oil though there is also conventional oil and gas potential.
The acreage is located close to the Dampier to Bunbury natural gas pipeline which could provide access to either the growing Western Australian domestic gas market or the LNG export market.
Each SPA has been granted for a period of six months, during which Rusa must conduct surface geochemical surveys in each area.
Negotiations with traditional owners on native title matters have been completed for the committed work program, and geochemical surveys are expected to commence during November with the intention of delineating the preferred acreage for conversion to exploration permits in the first half of 2013.
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