ADX Energy Ltd
Exploring down under
Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, oil and gas exploration and appraisal company ADX Energy is based in Perth and operates additional offices situated in Austria, Tunisia, Italy and recently Romania.
Founded in 1987, when it was originally known as AuDAX Resources, the company originally had a core focus on minerals, something it retained for almost 20 years. In 2005 it took the calculated, and somewhat risky, move to diversify from gold exploration into the oil and gas industry and within two years the company had already become well established within the market.
It was in late 2007 that Dr. Wolfgang Zimmer took the reigns as managing director, bringing with him an extensive degree of knowledge of and expertise within the North African and European markets. The new ADX team around Dr. Zimmer has recently been further complemented by chairman Ian Tchacos, who built the micro cap explorer Nexus Energy into an ASX top 200 offshore operator and producer. This concerted effort to expand the company’s operations in numerous continents has today placed ADX Energy in a particularly strong position, where it is able to secure highly prospective appraisal and exploration opportunities in numerous regions.
The company’s primary mission is to achieve exponential growth based on a strategy of early entry to high impact exploration operations in proven oil and gas basins within fiscally attractive countries. By executing this strategy the company is able to gain leverage from early entry to prospective acreage, adding value through technical studies and innovative seismic activity, and minimising the need for additional equity funding.
The geographic focus for the company’s energy appraisal and exploration activities is onshore and offshore Tunisia, offshore Italy, Romania and any other prospective location that includes access to good infrastructure, strong energy markets, stable governments and attractive fiscal terms. The company’s operating philosophy is to maintain operatorship through the exploration and appraisal phase of the asset cycle to ensure appropriate influence, the ability to maintain important core skills and gain access to new opportunities.
The assets held by the company consist of major interests in oil and gas licenses and
appraisal projects. The Sicily Channel Project Profile incorporates the Lambouka prospect area in Tunisia, the Kerkouane permit and the Pantelleria license, based in Italy. The Dougga and recently discovered Lambouka fields, comprise a combined resource that is thought to potentially exceed 500 bcf of gas and 60 MMbbls of liquids. Representing a significant material appraisal and development opportunity for the company and its partners, several additional large size prospects have also been identified using new 3D seismic technology. In 2010, Shell acquired a 1500 square kilometre 3D survey on the adjacent permit in Italian waters. ADX acquired a 740 square km Geostreamer survey over the Dougga and Lambouka structures.
The combination of the Dougga gas condensate field with other discoveries and prospects such as Lambouka, enhance the potential of a commercially attractive gas condensate development in the Sicily channel by aggregating the resources from several fields. The Dougga field contains recoverable contingent sales gas resources of 209 bcf and 42 MMbbls of associated condensate and LPGs (Tracs competent person’s report), while the Lambouka gas discovery is considered by industry experts to be a potentially sustainable resource, containing 309 bcf of mean recoverable gas.
The ADX Energy operated Chorbane Exploration permit, located onshore in central Tunisia, is a relatively unexplored area that possesses prospects for oil and gas discoveries. Favourably located close to export infrastructure, several proven petroleum systems exist adjacent to the site where the company has already identified a number of attractive opportunities. The currently highest ranked prospect within the Chorbane permit is the multi-reservoir Sidi Dhaher structure, where prospective resources of 350 bcf and seven MMbbl of condensate exist at Jurassic level alone in addition to the 175 bcf in the Tertiary and the 44 MMbbl of oil in the Cretaceous reservoirs.
In October 2010, ADX Energy was awarded in the first ever large exploration licensing round in Romanian, the Parta Block asset, against very strong competition. The block is located in one of the country’s most prolific hydrocarbon provinces. Romania has on a worldwide scale one of the most attractive fiscal regimes for oil and gas exploration and production. Geotechnical studies carried out by the company revealed two play fairways with healthy upside potential and in the year since it has identified 11 different leads within a 1220 square kilometre area that represent total mean unrisked conventional resources of approximately 300 bcf of gas and 45 MMbbl of oil. Having signed the concession agreement with the national agency, NAMR, in January 2011, ADX Energy has established a local office to assist in the execution of a plan that will define the operational procedures of future work programmes.
Always looking towards the future, ADX Energy has a constantly evolving forward programme intended to generate maximum value for its shareholders and position the company for further growth. Activities already underway in, or planned for the latter stages of 2011 span the entire reach of the company. These include the drilling of the Sidi Dhaher well in Chorbane, onshore Tunisia, pre-feasibility studies and appraisal of gas discoveries in Dougga, testing of the gas deposits in Lambouka and seismic work onshore in Romania. All this is proof that ADX Energy continues as operator to build its business in the areas of the industry in which it specialises.
ADX Energy Ltd
Services: Exploration and appraisal