Melbourne-headquartered AED yesterday afternoon said global consultancy Gaffney Cline & Associates’ best estimate of total oil initially in place for the southwest area, including the UK1a and LK1a reservoirs, was 77.8 million barrels.

The best estimate for the potentially recoverable volume of oil in the southwest region was 40.3MMbbl.

Gaffney Cline concluded after a review of geological, geochemical and engineering data that there was a single extensive oil pool in the UK1a reservoir.

This common, continuous pool encompassed the Puffin-2 and Puffin-9 well areas.

The evidence included similar oil geochemistry, pressure data from both wells, similarities in sand thickness and petrophysical properties, and stratigraphic data from Puffin-9.

It calculated the recovery factors and potentially recoverable volume of oil were similar to that for the NE1 area of the field in the northeast region.

Recovery factors were up to 52% for the UK1a and up to 51% for the LK1a.

The independent consultancy said actual recovery factors for the southwest region would depend on the real extent and shape of the upper and lower reservoirs, as well as the aquifer and the mode of development, including a possible need for water injection to supplement the aquifer’s pressure support.

AED managing director Ken Tregonning said AED had started plans for the most effective extraction of the southwest oil contingent resource.

This work included:

· Drilling and testing of an appraisal/production well on the Puffin-2 structure in 2008.

· Additional seismic processing and interpretation, including reprocessing of the 3D dataset, and horizon-based velocity analyses, which was expected to be completed next month.

· Expanded development planning for long-lead items based on the number and locations of wells and facilities.

He added that AED’s next drilling program would start in November with the drilling in the northeast development area of two horizontal laterals producing through a single production casing for early tieback to the Front Puffin FPSO.

More generally, AED had begun conceptual development planning to examine options for the overall field development including possible synergies with Talbot development.

This work was required to optimise the overall development of AED’s assets including the southwest (SW), northeast (NE) (including the NE1 and NE2 areas), and the nearby Talbot field.

Tregonning said development options included:

· Joint development with the Puffin NE area (NE1 is currently being developed with the Front Puffin FPSO).

· Stand-alone SW development, for example, with one or more fixed structures (the SW is shallower, at 75m water depth, than the NE, 104m).

· Acquisition of a FPU (floating production unit) or additional FPSO facility for possible sequential development of Puffin SW and Talbot.