Advent Energy has received approval from Industry & Investment NSW (I&I NSW) for the drilling of New Seaclem-1, offshore Newcastle, NSW. The NSW Department of Industry & Investment trades as Industry & Investment NSW (I&I NSW).

Approval has been granted for Asset Energy's (a wholly owned subsidiary of Advent Energy) Well Operations Management Plan (WOMP) under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) (Management of Well Operations) Regulations 2004, and Environment Plan and Oil Spill Contingency Plan under the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Environment) Regulations 2009.

The Approval follows several months of application and independent review process involving Advent Energy and representatives of I&I NSW.

The major shareholders of Advent are MEC Resources Limited (ASX: MMR), BPH Corporate Limited (ASX: BPH), Talbot Group Investments and Grandbridge Limited (ASX: GBA).

New Seaclem-1 Well Summary

The New Seaclem-1 well is located in the Advent (through wholly owned subsidiary Asset Energy Pty Ltd) operated PEP11 permit offshore NSW. The well will be the first explorationwell to be drilled offshore New South Wales and within PEP11.

The New Seaclem-1 drilling location is approximately 55 kilometres east of Newcastle within Commonwealth Waters. The New Seaclem-1 well will be targeting the Great White and Marlin stratigraphic prospects contained within the Cainozoic sedimentary sequence.

Advent's goal is to drill to a total depth of 826 metres and to determine the presence of natural gas within the interpreted tertiary sandstone reservoirs of the Great White and Marlin prospects. The New Seaclem-1 well is a wildcat well and will be the first ever exploration well to be drilled in the offshore Sydney Basin.

Previously, Tanvinh Resources has reported undiscovered prospective gas in place resource estimates for Great White of 1.16 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and for Marlin of 2.97 Tcf at the P50 or 'best estimate' level under Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) guidelines.

Additionally, an independent site survey contractor's analysis of site survey data over the Marlin and Great White prospects states that the geological sequence immediately above the interpreted Permo-Triassic unconformity is "likely" to contain zone(s) of gas.

Upon completion of the drilling of New Seaclem-1, Advent will increase its interest from 25% to 85% of PEP11. Bounty Oil and Gas (ASX: BUY), who are free-carried through this drilling, will thereby reduce their interest from 75% to 15%.

Tags: Advent Energy Ltd