Western Australia Advances Wheatstone LNG

- Western Australia Advances Wheatstone LNG

Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Government of Western Australia

Final environmental approval has been given for Onslow's Wheatstone LNG development.

Environment Minister Bill Marmion said approval was granted with 25 conditions protecting marine fauna, including whales, turtles and dugongs.

Approval followed the Minister's consultation with the ministers for State Development; Lands; Planning; and Indigenous Affairs, as required under the Environmental Protection Act 1986.

Significantly, the environmental conditions require:

• immediate suspension to dredging if coral outside defined zones is damaged
• no blasting at night during peak nesting and hatching seasons for marine turtles and no piling activity at night during the southern whale migration when humpbacks are travelling with their calves
• $13million in environmental offsets, including $3.5million over four years to improve management of critical habitats for humpback whales, dugongs and snubfin dolphins in Pilbara waters
• reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through offsetting approximately 2.6 million tonnes per year of reservoir carbon dioxide emissions.

"The State Government will continue to ensure the highest environmental standards are applied to protect the local community and its environment," Mr Marmion said.

"This is a huge development for Western Australia. At its peak, the construction workforce for Wheatstone is expected to reach 3,000 people, in addition to a further 3,500 indirect jobs and billions of dollars in locally purchased goods and services."

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Beach to Construct New Flowline from Cooper Basin Western Flank

- Beach to Construct New Flowline from Cooper Basin Western Flank

Thursday, August 25, 2011
Beach Energy Ltd.

Beach has signed an agreement with Senex to tie-in the Growler Field (Beach 40%) to the Lycium oil field. It has also agreed with Senex to construct a trunkline from Lycium to the Moomba facility, however, the tie-in of this section remains subject to approval from the South Australian Cooper Basin (SACB) Joint Venture (~Santos Ltd 67%, Beach 20%, Origin Ltd 13%).

It is anticipated that the flowline from the Growler Field will be constructed in two main sections. The first section, directly from the Growler Field to the Lycium oil field, will consist of a six inch flowline with an initial capacity of approximately 8,000 barrels of oil per day. The equity interests for this section of flowline will be Beach 40% and Senex 60%.

Pending approval from the SACB Joint Venture, the main trunkline will service the whole of Beach's operated and non-operated Western Flank acreage and is planned to run between Lycium and the Moomba facility. The capacity of this eight inch trunkline is expected to be in the order of 15,000 barrels of oil per day. The equity interests for this section will be Beach 60% and Senex 40%.

Beach will undertake both the construction and operatorship of the flowlines, with the total cost of approximately $40 million to be effectively shared between Beach and Senex.

These flowlines will provide Beach with access to the Growler Field during times of flooding in much the same way it has for Beach's PEL 92 acreage during the recent flooding events. The second trunkline will also provide for increased production flows from Beach's operated PEL 91 and PEL 92 acreage as a result of recent development, appraisal and exploration success in the area.

The six well approved exploration program set down for PEL 104 and PEL 111 is expected to commence in October 2011, when flood waters are forecast to recede to levels where access can be restored. A number of Birkhead targets have been identified by the Operator which has had an exploration drilling success rate of 80% in the acreage to date.

The tenure of the Beach Operated Western Flank PEL's 91 and 92 have been granted a twelve month extension by PIRSA in acknowledgment that flooding has delayed exploration in the area. It is expected that the flowlines will be commissioned around June 2012.

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Apache Continues Winning Streak in Egypt's Western Desert

- Apache Continues Winning Streak in Egypt's Western Desert

Thursday, August 04, 2011
Apache Corp.

Apache reported two new oil discoveries in its Faghur Basin play of Egypt's Western Desert oil and gas province.

• A test of the Jurassic Safa sand in the Faghur Deep-1X flowed at a rate of 6,671 barrels of oil and 2.76 million cubic feet (MMcf) of natural gas per day.
• The Neilos-1X discovery on the Neith South development lease test-flowed at a rate of 4,179 barrels of oil and 4.2 MMcf of gas per day from the Jurassic Safa formation. The well also encountered two Alam El Bueib (AEB) Cretaceous pay sands that were not tested.

The latest discoveries were developed through evaluation of modern 3D seismic surveys acquired over the southwestern part of the Khalda Offset Concession and the southern part of the West Kalabsha Concession. In 2011, Apache has drilled and/or completed 11 exploration wells, resulting in nine new field discoveries in the Faghur Basin play. Drilling is continuing on two exploration wells, and seven additional exploration wells are slated to reach total depth in the area before the end of 2011.

"The Faghur Basin continues to be a successful focus area for Apache, with prolific oil and gas production from the AEB, Safa, and Paleozoic reservoirs that demonstrates the multiple-pay potential of this area of the Western Desert," said Tom Voytovich, vice president of Apache's Egypt Region.

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Beach Makes Oil Discovery at AU Western Flank

- Beach Makes Oil Discovery at AU Western Flank

Monday, August 01, 2011
Beach Energy Ltd.

Beach Energy announced two new field oil discoveries at Bauer-1, the third successful well in a five well exploration drilling campaign in PEL 91, and at Rincon-1, the final exploration well of the initial eleven well program for PEL 92. The commencement of the FY12 Joint Venture approved nine well exploration and development program, set down for PEL 92, will now follow this program.

The Bauer-1 well (Beach (Operator) - 40%, Drillsearch Energy Ltd - 60%) encountered a gross oil column of fifteen meters, with thirteen meters of net pay, in the McKinlay/Namur Sandstone section of the well. Preliminary volumetric assessment indicates the potential of the discovery could be in the order of two million barrels of recoverable oil (gross).

Following the completion of the evaluation program, the Ensign#18 rig will be moved to the Searcy-1 exploration well which is located approximately eight and a half kilometers to the north-east of Bauer-1. Bauer-1 is expected to be on-line in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Rincon-1 well (Beach (Operator) - 75%, Cooper Energy Ltd - 25%) encountered a gross oil column of five meters, with four and a half meters of net pay, in the McKinlay/Namur Sandstone section of the well. Beach’s preliminary volumetric assessment suggests up to five hundred thousand barrels of recoverable oil (gross).

Following the completion of the evaluation program, the Ensign#30 rig will be moved to the Elliston-1 exploration well which is located approximately 25 kilometers to the south of Rincon-1. Options to bring Rincon-1 on-line are currently being assessed.

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T.D. Williamson Sets Up Shop in Western AU

- T.D. Williamson Sets Up Shop in Western AU

Wednesday, July 20, 2011
T.D. Williamson Inc.

T.D. Williamson has opened a new office in Perth, Western Australia, in a strategic move to offer customers its full range of products and services. Located on St. George's Terrace in the heart of downtown Perth, it serves as the administrative and engineering services center for all offshore operations currently being conducted in Western Australia and Victoria, and for supporting future operations in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Operations carried out offshore, particularly on the gas-rich province of the North West Shelf, are managed from the new Perth office. To ensure that customers receive superior service, TDW draws personnel and equipment support from TDW's operational facilities in Melbourne, Singapore and Norway. By establishing a dedicated team of engineering and technical specialists in Perth, TDW offers enhanced service and prompt, professional customer service.

Gearing up in Western Australia

Since 2004, TDW has been active in the Western Australia market, completing numerous SmartPlug® pipeline pressure isolation operations offshore on the North West Shelf and in the Bass Strait in southeast Australia. Recently, the company completed a successful pipeline pressure isolation operation to facilitate a valve change-out at a metering station where gas is exported to the domestic consumer market. TDW has also been retained to carry out several high level engineering studies for future pipeline isolations and to provide Emergency Pipeline Repair Systems (EPRS) for new major gas pipeline networks. Engineering studies are often completed several months - or years - before the actual offshore execution. Customers will benefit from the fact that engineers are based locally and readily accessible to meet to discuss solutions.

"With the number of new field developments in the Australian market, we are aware that the demand for SmartPlug pressure isolation services and other services we offer will continue to rise, and that we must be prepared to meet that demand," said Tony Hawkins, Country Manager – Australia for TDW." Our pipeline pressure isolation services are ideally suited to help pipeline operators maintain existing pipeline networks, and to service developments that are currently under construction and following completion. With the combined efforts of our permanent teams in Perth, Melbourne and New Zealand, supported by the offshore team in Norway, we are fully prepared to meet the offshore pipeline pressure isolation needs of operators throughout the region," he added.

Expanding network in Asia Pacific

The new Perth office is the latest addition to TDW's network of facilities in the Asia Pacific region. Last fall TDW opened a 7,500-square-meter Engineering and Manufacturing Center in Savli near Vadodara, India. The new center was established to support India’s pipeline network, which is expected to double during the next three or four years as gas finds and the expansion of the energy market drive infrastructure growth.

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Western N.D. Oil Boom Offers Beacon to Unemployed

- Western N.D. Oil Boom Offers Beacon to Unemployed

Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Lisa Miller, The Dickinson Press, N.D.

The diversity of Dickinson continues to grow as more and more people from all parts of the country and walks of life move to western North Dakota for employment.

A recent energy boom including the discovery of oil and gas in the area, have many people seeing dollar signs.

Lexi Sebastian, the executive director of the Dickinson Area Chamber of Commerce , said since the beginning of the year the Chamber has received approximately 500 phone calls and 225 walk-ins requesting information about the community.

She added the chamber receives about 40 contacts a day from people looking to relocate and mails about that many relocation information packets a month.

Steve Kass of Hayward, Wis., is one of those relocators.

He moved to Dickinson after work in Wisconsin slowed.

"I used to work construction, panelizing and building walls," Kass said. "In the summer of 2006 I was working on a big commercial project in Illinois when day after day union carpenters began coming in looking for work. I thought to myself if they are slow what's coming next?"

And he was right.

"By the fall I had to let between 15 and 20 guys go because there was just no business," Kass said. "It was a very difficult thing to do."

Kass then did remodeling on his own until that "petered out" too.

"My family, (wife Amy and kids Tyler and Jordan) were barely getting by and this spring I decided I had to do something," Kass said.

He added a few people in his community were moving to North Dakota because they had heard a lot of places were hiring.

"So I decided to check it out," Kass said. He and a friend packed-up one weekend and attended a job fair.

But on the way one of the tires on the camper the pair was toting blew out near Richardton.

"We went into town for help and a young man offered so we went and got the tire fixed and then he offered to let us park the camper on his dad's farm," Kass said. "One thing that really surprised me was how nice everyone in North Dakota is."

He added other things that surprised him were the lack of trees, general landscape and the amount of wind.

"Everyday there is wind," Kass said laughing.

Two days after the job fair both men were hired.

"It was such a relief," Kass said.

He now works for Steier Oil Field Service as a roustabout.

"Its kind of like being a mechanic. We fix things on location," Kass said.

He added one nice thing about Steier Oil Field Service is that they are big on safety.

"I had no experience," Kass said. "I did not even know what an oil field looked like, but they trained me and things are going well."

Kass said sometimes he feels like a fish out of water yet because of his lack of experience and because most of his coworkers are younger than him.

"My boss is 21, I'm 42," Kass said. "I never thought I'd have to start over again."

Kass said what he misses most is his family.

"I talk to them every day and always get the same question 'Dad when are you coming home?'" Kass said. "It's tough, its really tough to be away from family and missing out on all their big adventures. It's also tough because I have always been the protector and made sure everyone was safe, happy and healthy and I can't do that from here."

He added he really wants to move his family here but can't find affordable housing nor can he sell his home back in Wisconsin because they are having housing problems of the opposite kind.

"My wife is an accountant, so we both have good jobs but in today's economy and cost of living things are tight," Kass said.

Right now Kass and his friend are living in their camper.

"I have to find something before the winter," Kass said. "But if housing stays this way it's almost not worth staying. It's cheaper to buy another house, but then my wife and I will be paying for two houses."

Kass said on a typical day he starts at 6:30 a.m. He heads out to get job orders then goes from location to location and returns to the camper between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

"I work as many hours and weekends as I can because I am trying to earn money for my family and because there is nothing to do," Kass said. "Actually I shouldn't say there is nothing to do because that's not true, I just don't feel like going out without my family."

He added once in a while he goes golfing with some friends but many nights he sits at home watches TV, eats a microwave meal, showers and goes to bed.

"It's just so different than what I have done in the past," Kass said. "It's a different way of life."

He added another nice thing is that Steier Oil Field Service doesn't have a problem with employees going home, they are very family friendly.

"The problem for me is home is hundreds of miles away," Kass said. "It's expensive both to fly and drive and it's almost a 10 hour drive. I go home for two days. The time just seems so short but it is worth it."

Kass added the economy everywhere else in the country is crud.

"You hear and learn about the great depression, I never thought I'd live it," Kass said. "No one is hiring back home, people in North Dakota should feel very blessed because it's not like this everywhere else, you really don't know unless you've seen it."

Kass said he wishes he had this kind of work at home not only for himself but his neighbors as well.


Copyright (c) 2011, The Dickinson Press, N.D.

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Select Energy Services Acquires Western Company of Texas

- Select Energy Services Acquires Western Company of Texas

Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Select Energy Services LLC

Select Energy Services announced the acquisition of The Western Company of Texas, a Fort Worth, TX, based water transfer company with operations in the Bakken, Barnett, Eagle Ford, Granite Wash and Haynesville.

"Western has grown to become a leading provider of water transfer services in the Bakken Shale and represents a tremendous growth opportunity for our Rockies Region," said John Schmitz, CEO of Select. "Dale Behan and his team have developed significant relationships with many of the leading producers in North Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, and we look forward to developing those relationships further as we introduce Select's Water Solutions approach to sourcing, transfer, treating, and disposal, while providing the highest quality service in the industry."

This acquisition represents Select Energy Services commitment to become the leading water solutions and oilfield service provider in shale plays throughout the U.S.

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PetroNeft Confirms 2P Reserves in Western Siberia

- PetroNeft Confirms 2P Reserves in Western Siberi

Wednesday, July 06, 2011
PetroNeft Resources plc

PetroNeft, owner and operator of Licenses 61 and 67, Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, provide an update on its operations.

Highlights

• Kondrashevskoye No. 2 sidetrack well confirms 2P reserves
• Lineynoye 206 contains thickest oil pay encountered to date
• Lineynoye/West Lineynoye has materially thicker pay and extends significantly further north than originally anticipated
• Several new oil bearing structures are now likely to the north of Lineynoye/West Lineynoye

License 61 Exploration/Delineation program

The Kondrashevskoye No. 2 sidetrack has been drilled down dip from the Kondrashevskoye No. 2 well and penetrated the oil water contact in the objective J1-1 sandstone interval at -2,465 m true vertical depth ("TVD"). The reservoir interval of 3 meters in the sidetrack section was slightly thicker than in the vertical well with the top meter of the reservoir oil bearing.

Based on the results, the well has most likely confirmed the existing independent Ryder Scott 2P reserves of 8.1 mmbo attributed to the field and we will now update the reserves with the Russian State Reserve committee in preparation for field development. The exact timing of development will depend upon how the economics of this field compares with other nearby fields, most notably Arbuzovskoye.

Production casing has been run and cemented in the well so it can be used when the field is developed. The drilling crew is in the process of moving to the potentially high impact Sibkrayevskaya exploration prospect which will commence drilling shortly.

License 61 Development program

The Lineynoye 206 development well drilled from Pad 2 to the north contained 21.9 meters of gross sandstone with 18.5 meters of net pay which is the thickest net pay interval encountered to date in the drilling program. The reservoir interval was completely saturated with oil and confirmed an oil-down-to of -2,437.5 m TVD, some 15 meters deeper than the previously mapped structural spill point of the field to the north.

The results of this and other recent Pad 2 wells have shown that the northern part of the Lineynoye field has materially thicker pay and extends significantly further north than originally anticipated. This has positive implications for reserves and productivity in this region of the field and for the likelihood of several new structures north of Lineynoye/West Lineynoye to be oil bearing.

Dennis Francis, Chief Executive Officer of PetroNeft Resources plc, commented, "We are pleased to have proved reserves for economic development at Kondrashevskoye and will incorporate this discovery along with Arbuzovskoye in our 2012 development planning. Pad 2 drilling continues to be very encouraging with the thickest oil pay encountered yet indicating an increased probability that oil has migrated north from the Lineynoye/West Lineynoye field into the various structures contained in the undeveloped Emtorskaya High area."

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UBS Initiates Coverage of Western Refining With $17 Target, Neutral Rating

- UBS Initiates Coverage of Western Refining With $17 Target, Neutral Rating



Jun 28, 2011

UBS initiated coverage of Western Refining (NYSE:WNR) today with a $17 price target and a neutral rating on the company.

Shares of Western Refining are trading up 3.13% at $17.12.

Western Refining has a potential upside of 23.2% based on a current price of $17.12 and an average consensus analyst price target of $21.1.

Western Refining is currently above its 50-day moving average (MA) of $16.38 and above its 200-day of $12.42.

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Gazprom Neft, Shell to Mull JV for Western Siberia Projects

- Gazprom Neft, Shell to Mull JV for Western Siberia Projects

Friday, June 17, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
MOSCOW
by Malgorzata Halaba

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Gazprom, said Friday it has signed a cooperation agreement with Shell Exploration Company BV, a unit of U.K. energy giant Shell.

The companies will assess the potential of creating a joint venture to pursue projects in Western Siberia and areas both inside and outside of Russia, and to further develop cooperation between the two companies in upstream and downstream, the statement said.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Drillsearch: Drilling Starts at 2nd Well in Western Flank Oil Fairway Prog.

- Drillsearch: Drilling Starts at 2nd Well in Western Flank Oil Fairway Prog.

Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Drillsearch Energy Ltd.

Drillsearch announced that following the success of the Hanson—1 New Oil Field Discovery in PEL 91, Drillsearch's Western Flank Oil Fairway drilling program continues with the spudding of Snellings-1, the second well in the five well program. The Snellings-1 well spudded at 7.00am Monday, 6 June 2011. Drillsearch holds a 60% Interest in PEL 91 while Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) as operator holds 40%. The Hanson Oil discovery is estimated to contain gross recoverable oil of up to 1 million barrels. Drillsearch also holds a 60% interest in this discovery.

Snellings-1 oil exploration well is located 1500 meters north of the Hanson Oil Discovery and 1900 meters south of the Chiton Oil Field. The primary objective of the well is the Namur Sandstone which is the productive oil reservoir in both the Chiton Oil Discovery and the Hanson New Oil Field Discovery announced on May 30, 2011 along with numerous oil discoveries in the adjacent PEL 92 permit to the south of the Snellings prospect. The Birkhead Formation Sandstones, Hutton Sandstone and Poolowanna Sandstones are considered secondary targets for oil and have been proven at the Christies and Sellicks oilfields to the south and south east of Snellings-1. Drilling will be to a total depth of 1935mRT and it is expected that the drilling will take 10-14 days.

Seismic mapping of the Namur horizon indicates that the Snellings Structure has approximately 10 meters of independent structural relief and potentially encloses an area of 1.0km2. The Snellings Prospect is estimated to have up to P10 High-side Recoverable Prospective Resource potential of up to 1.0 million barrels of oil.

Details of the Snellings Prospect are set out in the attached Prospect Data Sheet and accompanying maps and seismic sections.
Snellings-1 will be drilled as a conventional vertical well with wireline logging and possible testing planned after the well reaches total depth. The main target zone is expected to be penetrated five to seven days after spud.

Mr. Brad Lingo, Managing Director noted that "following the success of the Hanson-1 Oil Discovery announced on May 30, 2011, the spudding of Snellings-1, the second well in our five well drilling program is very encouraging. We are progressing on schedule, and we look forward to providing you with further updates on the exploration work we are undertaking in the highly prospective Western Flank Oil Fairway."

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Western Australia's Gas Policy Seen Preventing New Entrants

- Western Australia's Gas Policy Seen Preventing New Entrants

Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Asia Pulse Pte Ltd

Western Australia's domestic gas reservation policy is interventionist and may prevent new entrants to the market, the petroleum sector's peak body says.

Former state premier Alan Carpenter in late 2006 introduced the policy, whereby 15 percent of gas from offshore projects must be set aside for domestic use.

The state's reliance on just a few gas producers was highlighted in 2007, when an explosion at Apache's Varanus Island gas processing facility resulted in domestic supplies being slashed by one third for several months, mainly affecting industrial users.

Almost all of the remainder of the WA's domestic gas supply - about two thirds - comes from the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Venture.

However, Chevron has committed to reserve some gas from its Gorgon project under construction on Barrow Island for local use.

Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association chief executive Belinda Robinson said mandated gas reservation wasn't necessary to secure domestic gas supply.

The policy could backfire, concentrating WA's gas market even further by deterring new entrants, which would push up prices, she said.

There was no evidence the nearly five-year old policy had driven existing producers to other jurisdictions, however.

"Policy measures that encourage new entrants, more players, more competition, more transparency, are going to better ensure that competitive prices are delivered," Ms. Robinson told a business forum in Perth on Wednesday.

"It also means by diversifying the supply base, we're better equipped to deal with emergencies should and when they occur."

Ms. Robinson said the policy made no difference to the Varanus crisis occurring.

"That's a different issue - that's an emergency response strategy," she told reporters after the function.

"Clearly, in terms of any government looking at long term supply, you have to take the possibility of potential incidents like that into account and you have to have emergency response measures in place to be able to deal with those."

She said Queensland's government had toyed with the idea of a similar policy, but settled on the establishment of a gas commissioner, who was solely responsible for the smooth operation of the gas market.

There was merit in that move, Ms. Robinson said.

WA's policy was currently about providing assurances to the community and acting as "an insurance policy" against the market's failure to set aside enough domestic gas.

But a more sophisticated strategy was needed, she said.

"Let's have something that clearly analyses the gas market in WA ... identify market failures if they occur in terms of supply and then keep open options for a discussion on when that (policy) might work, instead of jumping to a solution and working backwards."

WA's Department of Mines and Petroleum was being sought for comment.

(C) 2011 Asia Pulse Pte Ltd.

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Western Pennsylvania Firefighters Trained in Natural-Gas Blazes

- Western Pennsylvania Firefighters Trained in Natural-Gas Blazes

Monday, May 16, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Craig Smith, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

When it comes to natural-gas fires, what lies beneath worries firefighters.

"It's what you can't see," said New Castle fire Chief Thomas A. Maciarello.

More than 50 firefighters from 16 Western Pennsylvania fire departments recently completed specialized training on battling natural-gas fires, such as the one that ignited in February at a Marcellus shale drilling site in Washington County.

"It's essential firefighters understand how to respond to a natural-gas fire because many times they are the first at the scene," said Carol Fox, president of Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, which conducted the training at company facilities in Ellwood City in Lawrence County and Waynesburg in Greene County.

Fire departments don't often practice responding to such fires because they occur so infrequently, Maciarello and Mt. Lebanon fire Chief Nicholas Sohyda said.

"We have several gas transmission lines, underground vaults, brick gas houses, some near schools," Sohyda said. "It's not a high-frequency event. ... But there is the potential to have a little bit more significant incident."

The training "gives us an idea of what we can do," Maciarello said.

In addition to well fires, firefighters were trained in extinguishing fires caused by natural gas migrating to the surface; fires at an above-ground regulator station or meter; and fires in excavation pits.

Columbia Gas, with local headquarters in Canonsburg, serves about 400,000 customers in 26 counties. It is one of the 10 energy-distribution companies of NiSource Inc., which serves 3.8 million natural-gas and electric customers in nine states.

This fall, Columbia Gas will provide similar training to fire departments in eastern and central Pennsylvania.

Copyright (c) 2011, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

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Change in Oil Funding Priorities Concerns Western Legislators

Change in Oil Funding Priorities Concerns Western Legislators

Thursday, April 28, 2011
The Bismarck Tribune, Bismarck, North Dakota
by Rebecca Beitsch, The Bismarck Tribune, N.D.

Lawmakers have passed a bill that changes the way oil money will be allocated amid cries from some western legislators that it will short the oil producing counties.

House Bill 1451, which now goes to the governor for signature, eliminates the Permanent Oil Trust Fund, where most oil revenue goes now, and disperses it into other funds --mainly the state's general fund -- while all setting the stage for locking more of it away in the Legacy Fund down the road.

Some legislators' problem with the Permanent Oil Trust Fund was one of semantics -- they complained there was nothing permanent about it and the fund should be dissolved and dispersed into more project-specific funds.

The bill does just that, putting more money from oil revenue into the general fund to cover projects that would've likely been funded by oil money anyway. The rest of the money funnels into funds, hitting an upper limit before moving into the next one like a line of dominoes.

After the first $200 million goes into the general fund, the next $341 million would fund property tax relief. Then comes more money into the general fund, allotments into the newly-created Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund, then into disaster relief, and then back to the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund before 25 percent of whatever is left over goes into the Legacy Fund. Created by voter referendum in 2010, the Legacy Fund locks some of the oil revenue away, untouchable by the Legislature until 2017.

As the bill came to a final vote Tuesday in the Senate, some expressed concern about putting even more money in the Legacy Fund, though money is not projected to reach that fund this biennium.

Sen. John Andrist, R-Crosby, said investing in infrastructure, particularly in the western part of the state, should be a No. 1 priority.

"I'm afraid we're going to get short changed because we'll be trying to save money rather than invest it in infrastructure in the oil producing counties that supplied those funds," Andrist said, adding that the infrastructure money from this session had been scattered through the state rather than targeted at the west.

Other discussion surrounded eliminating the Permanent Oil Trust Fund.

Sen. Dwight Cook, R-Mandan, said centralizing spending from one source would be more transparent. Others argued the opposite, saying it made it unclear to what extent oil was funding state projects.

"I think it's always good to know when the state is spending oil money," said Sen. Jim Dotzenrod, D-Wyndmere.

Sen. John Warner, R-Ryder, said much of the state's spending is due to oil, but he's concerned transferring more to the general fund will tempt legislators to spend.

"We can only put so much in the general fund or we'll overspend," Warner said.

Beach Boasts Results for Western Flank Campaign

Beach Boasts Results for Western Flank Campaign

Monday, April 04, 2011

Beach Energy Ltd.

Beach has obtained excellent results from the first two wells drilled of its 16 well operated program in the Western Flank area.

In late February, the Parsons-3 oil development well encountered a 9 meter oil column. This result has now been immediately followed by a second success at Parsons-4, where a 5.5 meter column of oil was encountered in line with pre-drill prognosis. Both wells intersected excellent quality Namur sandstone reservoirs and have been completed for production and early tie-in to the Parsons facility. Following completion and perforation, Parsons-3 flowed over 5000 barrels of oil per day during clean up. No water was produced. This well is expected to be on-line around mid April with Parsons-4 shortly thereafter.

The success at Parsons will increase daily gross production from the PEL 92 area to around 6000 barrels of oil per day (gross). Beach expects to book additional reserves for the Parsons field following these results, the quantity of which is currently being assessed.

Oil from the Parsons field is transported from the Western Flank by flowline to Moomba via Tantanna and thus is not at risk from flooding in the area.

The Ensign #30 rig will now move to the Butlers-2 location. The well to be drilled will appraise the northerly extent of the Butlers oilfield and facilitate development planning and production optimization. A successful result at Butlers-2 has the potential to add up to 2 million barrels of oil (gross).

The Ensign #18 rig is currently moving across the Cooper Creek via the Kudnarri Bridge into PEL 91. The rig is expected to be 100% on location at Hanson-1 by the middle of this week and will commence drilling after a short maintenance and repair period of one to two weeks.

Hanson-1 is the first of a five well exploration campaign for the PEL 91 joint venture.

A further flood pulse is expected in the PEL 91 and PEL 92 areas in mid April, however Beach has established a remote operations base at Gunyah on the western side of the Cooper Creek to enable drilling operations to continue unaffected.