The Innamincka Dome projects is located near the Innamincka town in South Australia’s Cooper Basin area.

The project comprises six highly prospective hydrocarbon projects including two development targets, namely the Flax oil and gas field and the Yarrow gas field, within Petroleum Retention Licences (PRLs) 14 and 17. The project also comprises the Juniper oil field in PRL18 and unexplored PRLs 180/181/182.

Red Sky (NT), a subsidiary of Red Sky Energy, acquired the Innamincka Dome licences from Beach Energy in May 2019.

Santos QNT, a subsidiary of Santos, entered a farm-out agreement with Red Sky (NT) in September 2019 to invest A$9m ($5m) capital into the project. Santos QNT will secure the right to earn 80% interest in the licenses, following the farm-out agreement.

Red Sky Energy commenced strategic reviews on all the four projects to identify the near term cash flows of the projects. Independent contingent resource estimates for the Yarrow and Flax fields were completed by December 2018, while the strategic review of the Yarrow field was completed in June 2019.

The Innamincka Dome projects details

The Flax and the Yarrow fields of Innamincka dome projects will be developed initially, followed by the unexplored targets comprising Juniper and the PRLs 180, 181, and 182.

The total capital expenditure to develop Flax and Yarrow is estimated to be £5m (A$9m). The development also involves the construction of a gas pipeline connecting Yarrow field to the grid at an estimated cost of £6.88m (A$12.3m).

Operating since 2004, the Flax field produced 180,000 barrels of 2C oil between 2009 and 2015. It comprises six existing production wells and associated infrastructure.

Classified as a conventional natural gas project, the Yarrow project is located within 25km of the gas tie-in to the pipeline grid, which supplies natural gas to East Coast Australia.

The recoverable gas from Yarrow is estimated to be valued roughly £112m (A$200m) at prevailing natural gas prices in the region.

Flax and Yarrow field reserves

The Flax field is expected to hold 9.9 million metric barrels (Mmbbl) of 2C contingent oil resources and 24 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas.

The 2C contained liquid and gas resources at Yarrow field are estimated to be 0.4Mmbbl and 20bcf, respectively.

Future developments at Innamincka Dome

The Flax field is proposed to be developed in two phases, with the first phase development based on low capex and quick revenue generation.

Activities involved in phase one include performing 3D seismic survey over roughly 50km² of the Yarrow gas field, as well as appraisal of three wells in both the Yarrow and Flax fields.

The second phase will principally target the substantial resources as well as focus on increasing the resources by using enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques.

The Yarrow field will consist of three production wells with a tested natural gas production rate of 3.6 million metric cubic feet per day (Mmcfd) from the Yarrow-1 well. The Yarrow’s resources are expected to be recovered within five years of production.

Infrastructure

The existing infrastructure at the Flax field includes gas production equipment, associated pipelines, and three storage tanks.

Major infrastructure to be developed at Yarrow includes the drilling of up to ten vertical wells and construction of the associated pipeline.

Support infrastructure facilities such as accommodation camps are proposed to be reviewed and augmented wherever necessary.

Contractors

RISC Advisory prepared the contingent resource estimates for the Flax and Yarrow fields.