When
Stockhouse Editorial, last caught up with Calgary-based
Bengal Energy Ltd. (
TSX.BNG,
OTCMKTS: BNGLF,
Forum), our audience learned about an Australian-focused oil and gas exploration and production company with producing
and prospective light oil-weighted onshore assets in the Cooper Basin – a region that contains the most important on-shore petroleum and natural gas deposits in Australia. Recently, Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson was joined by company Chief Operating Officer, Kai Eberspaecher, to get our investor audience up-to-date on all things Bengal Energy.
(Click image to play video)
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: To start off with, Kai, can you tell us a little bit about yourself.
KE: Yeah Dave. I've got an upstream background. I worked for a number of operators and advisories over the years in various international locations on- and offshore basins and my focus normally has been around project outcomes and production engineering. I joined Bengal in 2019 as a country manager here in Brisbane and accepted the CEO position in July this year. So what I'm doing now really is working closely with guys back in the Calgary office and really establishing the operator footprint for us here.
SH:Can you update our investor audience and your Bengal Energy shareholders on any new company developments, especially in the wake of COVID-19?
KE: Yeah, I think it's it was pretty clear that we were suffering from the low oil prices during COVID but luckily, we were able to pay back all fully drawn loan facility and also recapitalized. So on the back of this we were able to close the acquisition of our full production licenses from Santos and despite COVID, we're progressing with the reinstatement program of those four exciting assets, as well as our existing oil asset in Caracal and I should mention that all of those are a hundred percent working interest to us.
SH:You’ve just announced an operational update for your expanded development and exploration programs in the Cooper Basin. Can you expand on this big news for our investor audience?
KE: Yeah, that's pretty exciting for us and especially for me. We've appointed our main contractors and really, they work like departments for us. So we've got drilling and completions. We've got facilities, construction and operations and maintenance. Additionally as a governance framework we have to make sure that we demonstrate regulatory compliance as well as establishing the links with our landholders and Traditional Owners. So that's the second step and then in terms of deliverables, we're really working through the engineering design for kick-starting our gas production, as well as our oil production by utilizing our new Roadrunner which is the second-hand trailer mounted beam pump and not the bird running away from the coyote.
SH:You’ve recently reported that the company will be commencing high impact drilling at two of your wells in the region next couple of months. This may be news to many investors. Can you unpack the benefits of it?
KE: Yeah look, those are two really, really exciting developments and wells. So let me start with the first one. It is called Legbar and that's a farm-in on our gas exploration acreage, ATP 934 in its Southern portion. That well is a really well-defined prospect that is in a continuation of a trend from the south of our tenement and both Santos and Beach have enjoyed a hundred percent exploration success in there. So we're very excited to have this this well being spudded later in October. The second opportunity is an oil opportunity, which is directly adjacent to the highly productive Cook field and this could also provide a new pool for our Santos led JV and become a really important oil resource for us.
SH:
Just how ‘underdeveloped’ in general is the Cooper Basin in terms of oil & natural gas reserves?
KE: Yeah. Thanks Dave. I think that's a great question. So just within Australia to give you a sense if you look at the map, South Australia which is to the west of us, it looks a little bit like Swiss cheese and has been explored quite well. Whereas Queensland is much more underdeveloped and to put it in context for the North American kind of audience, if you compare it to the Western Canadian Basin, it is much more under-explored due to the well density and due to the focus of what has been explored here. So just also to highlight that the past decade here in in Australia, the focus was to develop Coal Bed Methane to basically feed gas plants at the Eastern seaboard here, and whereas our developments are really a simpler conventional oil and gas. And what is quite neat is when we tell people we talk to that we are still producing oil in Queensland, they normally start with not believing us and because it's all about natural gas [here] and so that's very exciting for us
SH:The Company looks set for strong growth in 2021 and beyond. How are you placed to expand operations to meet this demand?
KE: Yeah, that's another good question. As I said to you, our contractors they're very established and quite flexible. So we've got Fyfe Engineering, Ago Vires and InGauge all of which have worked in the Cooper Basin with other operators for many years and they all have a capacity to support our growth. The other part of what we're doing is when we do a design, we try to standardize it and align it with the best practices in the Cooper Basin. So that gives us access to materials such as tubing, tools and, and rigs and general supplies and so that really gives us some scale for growth.
SH:For company shareholders and potential investors, what kind of future development and progress can we expect at your Cooper Basin operation?
KE: Yeah, I think in 2021 we'll see those two high-impact wells first and foremost and then we'll take some really big steps towards gas production from our Wareena field which is connected by an existing pipeline into existing infrastructure as well as some oil from our discovery well at Caracal later in the year. For 2022 we are looking at revitalizing our Ramses gas production and also evaluate the gas potential as well as conducting an extended production test on Ghina and finally once we have more data, from Wareena and Caracal next year, we'll be planning additional wells to explore and exploit that area.
SH: What separates Bengal Energy from the competition – especially in Australia – and makes your business model unique?
KE: Yeah, thanks, Dave. For my part, our key differentiators are really, we have a really lean and nimble organization. We've got really incredible partners in terms of the support which we get from our suppliers. We've got supportive landholders and Traditional Owners. When we go into a project, we really apply a strong capital discipline and are really hungry for opportunities that come through applying innovative ideas such as what we've done with our Early Oil Production System and because we're across Australia and Canada, we're also able to leverage our experience and access best practice from both jurisdictions and bring the skill sets and the technologies together to get the best outcome for us here.
SH: And finally, Kai, if there’s anything I’ve overlooked please feel free to elaborate.
KE: Dave, thanks so much for your time and the questions today. I think the message here is for the investors and shareholders out there that please stay tuned for further updates. We are working on a number of initiatives and we can't wait to share them with you. Thank you.
For regular updates, visit
bengalenergy.ca.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.