Vintage Energy and Comet Ridge report ‘strong gas shows’ at Albany-1 side-track well

Gas explorers Vintage Energy (ASX: VEN) and Comet Ridge (ASX: COI) have registered gas shows in multiple zones while drilling the Albany-1 sidetrack well in central Queensland’s onshore Galilee Basin.

The well has reached a total depth of 2,822m and gas shows have been measured through all four sandstone packages of a thick reservoir section.

In 2018, the Galilee Basin Deeps joint venture was able to achieve a stabilised flow rate over 24 hours of 230,000 standard cubic feet per day from an initial 13m interval of the Lake Galilee Sandstone target reservoir.

At the time, the gas flow was reported to be the most significant hydrocarbon flow recorded from the Galilee Basin to date.

With the entire reservoir section now being penetrated and all sandstone packages available to stimulate, Comet (as operator) said the joint venture was looking forward to see what gas rates can be achieved from Albany 1.

Wireline logging activities will commence this month to provide detailed information on reservoir characteristics for a planned fracture stimulation program to be carried out by Condor Energy Services.

Potentially productive

Vintage managing director Neil Gibbins believes the gas shows are a sign of things to come.

“Strong gas shows being observed in multiple sections through the target reservoir supports our belief that we potentially have a significant and productive gas field in the Galilee Basin,” he said.

“The upcoming stimulation work will hopefully validate this belief and provide us with an indication of the commercial viability of the conventional Albany Field.”

In September, the joint venture announced the completion of the Albany-2 well to a total depth of 2,702m.

Albany-2 is located approximately 7km from Albany-1, with both wells appraising the gas potential of the Albany Field, situated over an area of 61sq km.

Joint venture structure

The Galilee Basin Deeps joint venture comprises Comet Ridge (70% equity and operator rights) and Vintage Energy, which increased its initial 15% equity to 30% in September following a 50% contribution to stage two exploration funding costs of $10 million.

Exploration is focused on the ‘Deeps Area’ within each of the basin’s petroleum blocks which includes all strata commencing underneath the Permian coals (Betts Creek Beds or Aramac coals), with the main target being the Galilee Sandstone sequence.

The sequence previously flowed gas to surface during formation testing at the Lake Galilee-1 and Carmichael-1 wells in 1964 and 1995, respectively.

Vintage Energy’s board

Eastern Australia’s gas crisis led to the formation and listing of Vintage, which is steered by former Beach Energy executive management.

Heading up Vintage is chairman Reg Nelson, who was previously managing director of Beach, while Neil Gibbons is the managing director of Vintage.

Mr Gibbons was chief operating officer during his tenure with Beach.

Vintage’s strategy is to continue looking for high-quality gas and oil assets.

At mid-afternoon, shares in Vintage Energy had risen 25.81% to $0.195, while shares in Comet Ridge were up 7.84% to $0.275.