Oz Comet Ridge, Vintage Energy Secures Rig
Australian Comet Ridge, as operator of the Galilee Basin Deeps Joint Venture, has executed a rig contract with Ensign Drilling to secure Rig 932 for the Albany-2 and Albany-1/ST1 drilling programme, its partner Vintage Energy said January 30.
The programme is scheduled to begin in March 2019 once the wet season has finished, Vintage said, adding that the agreement is for two firm wells plus two contingent wells, with the contingent wells dependent upon evaluation of the Koburra 2D seismic program.
Vintage and Comet Ridge have now both formally committed to stage two of the farm-in process, whereby Vintage will earn an additional 15% interest in the Galilee Basin Deeps Joint Venture. The agreed stage two work program is 325 km of 2D seismic and the drilling of Albany-2 and deepening of Albany-1, which successfully flowed gas from a 13 metre sandstone interval in June last year. The Koburra 2D seismic programme is now well underway with line preparation completed and over one third of the seismic data acquired, Vintage added.
“Vintage is pleased to secure a drilling rig for the next phase of appraisal drilling on the Albany field. The possibility of extending the drilling program beyond two wells gives the joint venture scope to accelerate evaluation of the significant exploration potential of the joint venture area. Stage two of the farm-in is already underway and we are looking forward to a very active operational program during the second half of FY19,” Vintage managing director Neil Gibbins said.
The Galilee Basin in an onshore basin located in central Queensland and covers an area of 270,000 km2. Vintage Energy has signed a farm-in agreement with Comet to earn a 30% staged interest in the Sandstone reservoir sequence of Galilee Basin permits ATP 743, ATP 744 and ATP 1015 currently held 100% by Comet Ridge.