The US Dept of Interior - Minerals Management Service (MMS) has announced the award to Petsec Energy of the Main Pass 7 lease (1,654 acres) in the Gulf of Mexico, USA. Petsec has a 100% working interest and an 83.33% net revenue interest in the lease which has a five year exploration term.

The new Main Pass lease is located immediately to the north of the Company’s existing Main Pass 19 & 18 leases where it discovered 15-18 Bcf of gas and 1.1 million barrels of oil net to Petsec earlier this year. Water depth is approximately 30 feet. Main Pass 7 has previously produced approximately 363 Bcf of gas and 7.6 million barrels of oil, and was part of the Mobil Main Pass Field where over 1.3 Tcf of gas and 16.4 million barrels of oil was produced.

The lease has multiple sand targets and is prospective for both gas and oil, sharing similar characteristics to the Main Pass 18 lease, where Petsec discovered a net 7.5 Bcf of gas and 1.1 million barrels of oil in March this year. Main Pass 7 is also adjacent to the Main Pass 7 Louisiana State block that was previously owned by Petsec and on which the company discovered significant amounts of oil and gas. An existing gas sales pipeline runs through the lease.

Petsec Energy Ltd is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Its focus of operations is on gas in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and onshore Louisiana Gulf Coast region of the USA, and on oil in the shallow waters of the Beibu Gulf off the south coast of China.