Commercial production begins at Unangi field

Australia

PERTH, July 17, 2015 – Commercial oil production has started at the Ungani oilfield, Australian exploration and production company Buru Energy announced Friday. The play, owned equally by a joint venture composed of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi and Buru Energy, is located in Western Australia’s Canning Basin.

Initial production figures were reported at 1,250 barrels of oil per day. Output is expected to reach 5,000 barrels of oil per day in the next few years.

“Ungani is the first commercial oil production in the Canning Basin since the original Blina discovery in 1981. We have a comprehensive oil exploration programme currently underway and we are confident that Ungani will be the first of many more discoveries as we unlock the potential of the basin,” Buru Energy chairman Eric Streitberg said in a statement reported by Oil and Gas Investor Australia.

The Mitsubishi-Buru Energy joint venture plans to use profits from the field, which totalled $41.9 million in June 2015, to further develop reserves in Canning Basin. To date, the collaboration has spud the Praslin-1 well and hopes to complete drilling operations in August 2015. The new development is located 14.5 kilometres from Ungani.

The joint venture entered into an indigenous land use agreement with the Yawuru people for the development of the play following an April 2015 meeting.

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