MOSMAN OIL & GAS
investment company that couldn ’ t organize the funding required to keep up with the work program . We were able to acquire the permit and move ahead . We ’ ve now drilled the first two exploration wells . We ’ ve had discoveries on two zones on both of those wells .”
The company ’ s other main development , the Officer Basin Project , consists of 22,527 square kilometers located in Western Australia . The company compares the suspected geology and hydrocarbon potential in the area to basins in Saudi
Arabia and Siberia .
“ The Officer Basin is an area I ’ m familiar with ,” Carroll said . “ I had an adjacent permit working with another company . It ’ s a really interesting large basin that ’ s somewhat unexplored ; no exploration in that area since the 1980s . It has both conventional and unconventional potential . It ’ s still at an early stage . The block we have interest in is enormous ; it ’ s bigger than Wales . We ’ re progressing that block , but it ’ s taking sometime to mature . It does have enormous potential .”
The project is currently held up pending completion of the Native Title Act requirements which deal with “ heritage clearance , land access and other traditional owner issues .”
“ Since the Mabo decision some 30 years ago , traditional owner rights have been recognized in Australia , though , there is a fairly well-trodden path now of negotiation ,” Carroll said . “ We are going down that path . So I was out on site in the permit in Warburton talking to the traditional owners earlier this year . We are planning the next visit and we expect that can be achieved in the next six to 12 months . There is a back up of an arbitration process , but we don ’ t