- One of BPH Energy’s (BPH) investee companies, Advent Energy, is seeking to extend its permit in the offshore Sydney Basin in light of COVID-19 woes
- Advent Energy owns 85 per cent of the PEP11 joint venture, with the remaining 15 per cent held by ASX-listed Bounty Oil and Gas (BUY)
- This week, Advent applied to a suspension of its Permit Work 4 program commitments and subsequent extension of the permit for two years
- Australian petroleum and gas permits are generally contingent on the permittee taking on specific work at the permit on a year-by-year basis
- The PEP11 joint venture, however, was unable to meet its work commitments at the permit because of COVID-19 hardships
- As such, by applying for the extension, Advent and its JV partner have an extra two years to begin the commitments already laid out in the initial permit grant
- Earlier this week, BPH announced it was investing an extra $5.75 million to bump up its interest in Advent Energy to around 33 per cent
- Nevertheless, shares in BPH are down over 18 per cent today to 16 cents each, while shares in Bounty Oil and Gas are down nearly 13 per cent to 3.4 cents
One of BPH Energy’s (BPH) investee companies, Advent Energy, is seeking to extend its permit in the offshore Sydney Basin in light of COVID-19 woes.
Advent owns 85 per cent of the PEP11 joint venture (JV), which is working to explore the 4576-square-kilometre permit immediately adjacent to the largest gas market in Australia. ASX-listed Bounty Oil and Gas (BUY) owns the other 15 per cent.
Today, PBH told shareholders Advent has applied for a permit extension to the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA).
Specifically, Advent applied for a 24-month suspension of its Permit Year 4 work program commitments, with a subsequent 24-month extension of the permit term.
What does this mean?
Simply put, Australian petroleum and gas permits are generally contingent on commitments from the permittee — in this case, the PEP11 joint venture — to take on specific work at the permit on a year-by-year basis.
By suspending the Permit Year 4 work program commitments, Advent and its JV partner have an extra two years to begin the commitments already laid out in the initial permit grant.
The permit extension application was submitted under the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Work Big Exploration Permits scheme from April 2020.
Under the amended COVID-19 rules, the application process for permit suspensions and extensions was simplified for oil and gas companies facing hardships due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Companies who had resource restraints, contract changes from third parties, or other issues like the inability to secure a fully-staffed vessel were all able to apply for permit amendments under the COVID-19 rules.
Advent’s application is yet to be approved, but BPH confirmed today the application has been accepted for processing by NOPTA this week.
Today’s news comes not long after BPH announced it would be investing an extra $5.75 million into Advent to bolster its interest in the company from roughly 22 per cent to 33 per cent.
Nevertheless, investors sold down heavily on today’s news. By midday AEDT, shares in BPH are down 18.42 per cent to 16 cents each.
At the same time, shares in Bounty Oil and Gas are down 12.82 per cent to 3.4 cents per share.