BHP says Thebe is biggest find in five years

BHP Billiton’s deep-water Thebe gas field off Western Australia is the largest petroleum discovery the company has made in five years, said its petroleum chief executive Michael Yeager.

The field contains between 2 trillion cubic feet of gas and 3 Tcf based on one well, the Thebe-1 wildcat of August last year. BHP is currently drilling the Thebe-2 appraisal well with the semi-submersible Atwood Eagle in about 4000 feet of water in BHP’s 100%-owned Block WA-346-P. Yeager said at the APPEA conference in Perth, Australia, that a number of development options are being eyed for Thebe with liquefied natural gas exports a leading contender. These concepts include a stand alone onshore LNG export facility, a shared liquefaction plant, and floating LNG. Yeager said its 100%-owned Pilbara LNG concept is an option for Thebe processing. Some years ago, BHP progressed Pilbara LNG for receiving gas from the big Scarborough field in which BHP owns a 50% non-operating stake. However, Scarborough operator ExxonMobil did not support Pilbara LNG, so the project went on hold. The Thebe-1 discovery well hit a gross gas column of 240 feet in the Triassic Mungaroo formation.

Read More