Bounty first acquired an interest in the Utopia oilfield in 2005 from Oil Wells Inc. of Kentucky (OWK). In the same year, Bounty participated in the drilling of two wells Utopia 5 and 6 the latter was completed as an oil well. The discovery well Utopia 1 and subsequent development wells Utopia 2 and 3 all intersected oil in the Murta Formation and were put into production. Utopia 4, which was drilled to target a separate culmination to the south west of the producing field hitting oil very near the oil water contact and was plugged and abandoned.  During 2009/2010 a further 4 development wells were drilled successfully into the Utopia Central pool.

First quarter 2013 saw Bounty participate in the successful drilling of two development wells Utopia 12 and 14.  Utopia 14 proved a new oil pool at Utopia East which is of similar size to the Central Pool. Utopia offers cost effective options to develop what is a substantial oil reserve base. The recent program has added an estimated 800,000 bbls of oil to Bounty’s estimated recoverable reserves.

The Utopia field is one of the largest oil reservoirs in the Murta Formation in Southwest Queensland and is still underdeveloped. The target reservoir is at a depth of 1000m, which makes for cheap and fast drilling and completions by the joint venture. The existing wells only drain a small portion of the potential reservoir and the joint venture is taking a systematic approach to development.

In late 2013 the joint venture plans to continue with a further 3 well development drilling program initially at Utopia East and a production optimization programme to develop the substantial oil reserves available.

Revenue and cash flows from Utopia are expected to increase materially in the 2013/2014 period.