Avery said the main reason for the withdrawal relates to a substantial increase in the acquisition cost of the proposed 3D farm-in seismic program over the Taylor field.

Mosaic managing director Lan Nguyen said Mosaic and Avery technical staff had worked hard in the last few months on the proposed Taylor 3D seismic acquisition program.

“They have attempted to contain the cost without compromising the data quality,” he said.

“However, due to the difficult terrain and dense vegetation, the total acquisition budget for the seismic program has increased substantially over the previously forecasted cost.”

Given the high cost of acquiring 3D seismic data in the Taylor area, Mosaic is now considering acquiring additional 2D seismic data over the Taylor field for drilling further oil and gas development wells.

The company said Taylor had upside potential recoverable reserves (3P) of over 8 billion cubic feet of gas and 1 million barrels of oil/condensate.

“Mosaic will continue with its farm-out program to accelerate the exploration and drilling activities as part of its capital management strategy, and the company hopes to be able to work jointly with Avery on future farm-in opportunities,” Nguyen said.