Georgia: Range to Ramp Up CBM
Range Resources is set to switch its focus for the VIa and VIb blocks in Georgia following a review of its strategy in the Eurasian country.
Range, along with its partners Strait Oil & Gas and Red Emperor Resources, will now revise its exploration efforts in the country to concentrate on coal-bed methane (CBM), particularly in relation to the Tkibuli-Shaori coal deposit.
The company says initial exploration on the resource will see it conduct shallow drilling at low cost on Tkibuli-Shaori deposit, in a bid to access an estimate 0.4 trillion cubic feet of CBM. This figure could rise in the future as Range Resources says that it has also identified sand horizons around the existing coal beds which may add to that estimate.
"Following a strategic review on how best to maximise our technical and geological positioning in Georgia, the CBM and unconventional opportunities identified represent a significant boost to Range's activities across its exciting portfolio," Peter Landau, executive director of Range Resources said today.
"From a cost / benefit perspective the revised programme will achieve far more in terms of near term development potential than the proposed deeper Namakhvani-1 well which had been severely hampered by weather conditions."
The company, along with its partners, will continue a 2D seismic programme already proposed for the Namakhvani-1 well but will revise it to accommodate the Tkibuli prospect as well as other unnamed targets, including some with shale potential.
The three partners will work with the the Georgian Industrial Group (GIG), which will offtake 100 per cent of the gas produced through a conditional agreement, on the development of the project.
Range Resources says that through this deal, a three-well programme may begin by the final quarter of this year, targeting depths of between 500 and 2,000 metres. Should these wells be successful, Range says a fast-track programme could see the recovered resources produced and sold within 18 months of drilling.
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