Galilee to Start Drilling in Queensland in April

Sydney-listed Galilee Energy is expected to start drilling in Queensland’s Surat and Galilee Basins in early April, it said March 4 in a statement.

The Savanna Rig 406 has been contracted to drill three exploration coreholes at Kumbarilla and the company said it is taking the opportunity to drill a monitoring well at the Glenaras multi-lateral pilot with flexible timing of either before or after the Kumbarilla drilling.

The initial programme at the Kumbarilla project (ATP 2043) in the Surat Basin, will include the drilling of three initial exploration coreholes targeting coal seam gas resources in the Walloon subgroup. “The Walloon coals will be cored and a full suite of wireline logs will be obtained, enabling a full assessment of the coal seam gas resource and assisting with planning the future drilling and pilot programme,” Galilee said. It is anticipated to take three to four weeks to drill the three exploration coreholes.

The drilling of a vertical monitoring well at Glenaras will help measure the pressure in the R3 coal within the pilot area, the company said. “To date, it has only been possible to obtain pressure data by shutting in the lateral wells for an extended period, which is sub-optimal for both reservoir depressurisation of the coal and pump life. This monitoring well will assist in addressing these issues,” it said.

Flexibility exists for the Glenaras drilling to be either prior to or after the Kumbarilla corehole programme, allowing for scheduling from early April to early May 2020, the company said. “Parallel preparation of leases at both projects also provides valuable operational flexibility in the event adverse weather impacts either location,” it said.