Oz Strata-X's Botswana CBM Project Gets Environmental Okay
Sydney-listed Strata-X Energy January 9 said Botswana’s department of environmental affairs has approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) on its Serowe coalbed methane project.
With the approval of the EIA, Strata-X has the clearance to drill and test up to 75 additional wells covering three prospecting licenses within the Botswana CBM fairway. In total, the company holds about 320,000 acres (1,295 km2) within the identified area spanning five, 100% owned licenses.
Previous environmental approvals acquired in 2018, covering two of the company’s original Serowe CBM licenses, granted Strata-X the right to drill and test 20 wells. Through the EIA approval, Strata-X has the authorization to drill and test up to 95 wells covering all of the 100% owned area before converting the area to full-scale production licenses.
The Botswana CBM fairway is interpreted to contain 2.38 trillion ft3 prospective gas resource net to Strata-X. “This interpretation is re-enforced with the results of the company’s 19B-1 well and historic core hole data, where these wells bubbled free gas from the targeted bright-coals,” Strata-X said.
The area immediately surrounding Strata-X’s recently drilled and logged 19B-1 well was certified to contain 2C contingent resources of 23bn ft3 of natural gas. The 19B-1 well intersected 18 metres of net coal with 12 metres of multi seam bright coals having up to 100% gas saturations, the company said.
A multi-well appraisal drilling and production testing programme within the area that steps out from the 19B-1 well is planned for 2020. “The proposed programme, utilizing best practices learned from the work to date, is designed to upgrade prospective resources to contingent resources with subsequent upgrades of contingent resources to reserves contingent on proving commercial gas flow rates,” the company said.
The multi-well appraisal programme will include the production testing of wells to acquire fluid flow rate data as required to design a multi-well production pilot programme to prove commercial gas flow rates.