Beach described Cooper Basin shale gas as a ‘sleeper’ in the options for long-term domestic and export gas supply and has potential comparable to combined New South Wales and Queensland coal seam gas volumes.
The company said its permits in the Nappamerri Trough could hold potential gas in place greater than 200 trillion cubic feet and share similar properties to the best shale plays in the United States.
The company will spud its first well, Holdfast-1, in July 2010. The well, located in Beach’ s 90 per cent interest PEL 218 permit, will be immediately followed by a second well located 20 kilometres southeast in the same tenement.
Beach Chief Executive Officer Hector Gordon said “Subject to the results of the first two Holdfast wells, we aim to be producing gas from our first pilot project in 2011.”
Beach says existing links in the basin make the shale reserves a viable option as feedstock for LNG facilities in Brisbane and Gladstone, Queensland.
PEL 218 is a joint venture between Beach, as operator, and Adelaide Energy.
Meanwhile, Red Sky Energy said its new unconventional gas permit could also be a potential supplier to proposed LNG projects in Gladstone.
Red Sky has completed an assessment of the unconventional gas potential within its ATP 840 permit, located in the Surat Basin in Queensland.
The assessment has confirmed the potential for a basin-centred gas play and has likened it to the Piceance Basin in the United States, which is one of the United States’ biggest reservoirs of natural gas.
Red Sky earned a 50 per cent interest in the rights of ATP 840 by completing the Romona-1 well in March this year.
