Vintage Energy and Comet Ridge awarded Galilee Basin potential commercial areas
Vintage Energy and joint venture partner Comet Ridge plan to resume exploration in six prospective areas in central Queensland.
Gas explorer Vintage Energy (ASX: VEN) and Comet Ridge (ASX: COI) have announced that their Galilee Basin joint venture has been awarded six Potential Commercial Areas (PCAs) in central Queensland.
Two exploration permits, known as Authorities to Prospect (ATP) in Queensland, were awarded to Comet Ridge in 2009 with exploration initially focused on coal seam gas (CSG) at the Gunn prospect.
Further exploration was undertaken when Vintage farmed into the ‘Deeps’ section of the blocks in 2018. The ATPs have now been renewed by the Queensland Government for an additional 12-year term.
However, the six PCAs, which lie within the two ATPs and span about 4,700sq km, have been awarded a term of 15 years to enable further appraisal to be undertaken.
In a joint statement on Monday, the partners said this award is an important step towards untapping the “huge potential” of the emerging Galilee Basin for future gas development.
“The Galilee Basin appears to have the base ingredients required to be a significant new contributor to Australia’s domestic gas production,” Vintage Energy managing director Neil Gibbins said.
“The potential jobs and economic benefits that this project could bring is something we are very excited about, and we look forward to results from our further exploration in this area over time,” Comet Ridge managing director Tor McCaul added.
Further exploration at the Albany prospect
In 2018, Vintage farmed into the ‘Deeps’ section of ATPs 743 and 744 by funding the Albany-1 well and additional 2D seismic surveying, targeting the deeper sandstone reservoir sections of the Permina-aged Galilee Basin sandstone.
Under the farm-in, Vintage acquired a 30% stake in the ‘Deeps’ section while Comet Ridge retained 70%, along with its 100% interests in the ‘CSG Shallows’.
The Albany-1 well flowed 230,000 cubic feet of gas per day and confirmed these deeper sandstones could indeed be productive. The partners have since identified up to 20 leads and prospects in this deeper section of the basin for future appraisal.
Towards the end of the tenure term, Comet Ridge and Vintage carried out a technical review of the permits and identified six separate areas as the most commercial prospective. These areas became the PCA applications that have now been awarded.
“The results we achieved in joint venture with Comet Ridge, including recording the first measured gas flow from the Lake Galilee Sandstone reservoir at the Albany-1 well, are very encouraging, so it is very pleasing to be granted the security of tenure that enables our exploration efforts to resume,” Mr Gibbins said.
Within their joint venture, Vintage and Comet Ridge also hold ATP 1015, which lies immediately to the west of the core PCAs. This block is expected to move through a similar ATP renewal and PCA award process later this year.