centrury red?20 Jun 2016 00:42
Australia-listed Otto Energy Ltd. said it obtained the Department of Energys (DoE) approval granting it a two-year moratorium on exploration activity earlier required by the regulator covering a deep-water exploratory well in the South China Sea.
The company had sought the reprieve in January or five months after announcing plans to plug and abandon Service Contract 55 (SC55) after its drilling there yielded no oil.
The moratorium is good until December 23, 2017, Otto said in a statement.
Otto owns 78.18% of the service contract, a drilling permit issued by the DoE for the Hawkeye 1 well. It had said it will assign its working interest to its joint venture partners Century Red Pte Ltd., which owns 15%, and Palawan 55 Exploration and Production Corp. with a 6.8% stake.
"Otto has indicated to the remaining joint venture partners that it will not continue with further activity in SC55, Otto said in the statement.
"The joint venture will undertake a specialised geophysical study in the interim period to determine if further drilling activity is warranted in SC55.