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The two Australian companies were paid $A123 million each, valuing the project at $1.23 billion.
The new participant in the joint venture is Cieco Exploration and Production (Australia), a wholly owned subsidiary of Itochu and a partner in Western Australia's Cliff Head oil development.
The BMG project was initially developed to produce oil from the Basker and
Manta fields, based on 23 million barrels of proved and probable (2P) reserves.
But new wells drilled in 2006 expanded the reserves base with 2P oil reserves now standing at nearly 40MMbbl, while an associated increase in the natural gas resource has nearly quadrupled gas-condensate resource estimates.
Up to six new wells are scheduled to be drilled in the fields, starting with Basker-6 early in 2008.