Australian Senex Approves A$50mn for Queensland Gas Project

Australian Senex Energy has sanctioned its first major investment in the Western Surat Gas project in Queensland, committing A$50mn (US$38.4mn) to a 30 well drilling campaign, with gas production of around 10 TJ/d (about 0.6mn barrels of oil equivalent/yr) expected by mid-2018.

"The sanctioned work program will further our understanding of the resource to support an accelerated project timeline, with potential to drill, complete and connect another 30 to 50 wells throughout 2018. Under this scenario and subject to regulatory approvals, Senex can seamlessly transition to a development phase targeting gas production of over 16 TJ/day by 2019, equivalent to 1mn boe/yr,” Senex MD and CEO Ian Davies said February 21.

Davies added that the company has seen immediate gas to surface from the Glenora pilot wells, brought online for continuous production in early February. “We have also seen evidence of strong gas flows from wells on the Eos block during rehabilitation works being undertaken on legacy QGC wells. These results demonstrate that coal seams in the Glenora and Eos blocks have already been partially dewatered by neighbouring operations,” he said. The Glenora and Eos blocks are located in the south-east of the Western Surat Gas Project, directly north of GLNG’s producing Roma field. 

In addition to the investment plans, Senex reported results for the six months that ended December 31, 2016. For 1H, the company posted a statutory loss after tax of A$8.8mn while revenue fell 38% revenue to A$22.8mn.

In the six months to December 31, there was a 24% drop in net production to 0.41mn boe. 

Shardul Sharma