Comet Sees First Gas Flow from Oz Galilee Albany 1 Well
The Comet Ridge-Vintage Deeps (CRVD) joint venture has recorded its first measured gas flow from its Australian Galilee Basin project via its Albany 1 well, Comet said June 28.
The initial 13 metre section in the Lake Galilee Sandstone Reservoir saw a stabilised gas flowrate of 230,000 ft3 per day. It’s believed to be the first measurable flow of gas from the Lake Galilee Sandstone in the Galilee Basin, Comet said.
“We are extremely pleased with the initial flow rate at the Albany 1 well, which has been achieved from a 13 metre interval, which represents approximately 10% of the sandstone interval targeted by the well,” Comet’s managing director Tor McCaul said.
Given the successful flow result on Albany 1, the CRVD joint venture is now planning the location of the step-out Albany 2 well, which is part of the second stage of the Vintage farm-in. CRVD is also exploring options on larger capacity rigs to finish the Albany 1 well and drill the Albany 2 step-out, Comet said.
No timing has yet been set for this operation but planning operations are underway, it said.
Comet spudded the Albany 1 appraisal well on the weekend of May 19-20. Vintage is funding the first A$3.5mn ($2.52mn) of the drilling cost for the first well to earn a 15% interest in the block. It can also fund half of the second phase program which contains further drilling and seismic acquisition which will see it acquire a further 15% interest.
The Albany-1 is located in Queensland 220 metres to the southwest of the Carmichael 1 well which was drilled in 1995 and flowed gas at low rates from three intervals. Albany-1 is an appraisal well, rather than an exploration well, because of the structure having already produced gas during the earlier testing.
Comet said last month that it is engaging with a range of potential gas transporters and customers and believes Galilee gas could be brought relatively quickly into the east coast network to make a material difference to the current tight east coast market.
Earlier in the week, Comet’s fellow Queensland Mahalo development’s Mira 6/2 well also saw positive results, exceeding the company’s own expectations with a flow rate breaching 1.4mn ft3 per day.
Equity participants in the Mahalo coal seam project along with Comet Ridge (40%) are Australia Pacific LNG (30%) and Santos (30%).
RBC Capital Markets analyst Ben Wilson said: “APLNG is the current development phase operator for the Mahalo field. We think there is perhaps an opportunity for either Santos or Comet to assume operatorship. Comet has demonstrated its capability in operating the exploration program over the past year”.
“In any case, the successful appraisal of the field has catapulted the field into relevance for all three JV operators. Comet’s gross 2P reserve booking (independently certified) of 430 PJ creates the scale needed to attract attention from pipeline developers, gas buyers and infrastructure developers,” he said.