Australia: Mahalo Block Pilot Schemes to Start Production Operations This Month

Comet Ridge announced that construction at the two Joint Venture Mahalo block pilot schemes is progressing, with both pilot schemes expected to start production operations in the coming weeks.

Work on construction of two separate pilot schemes at the Mahalo Field and Mira Field, 13 km apart, and approximately 240 km west of Gladstone, has been undertaken over the past nine months, commencing with the drilling of the four Mahalo Field pilot wells in July 2012. These wells were completed for production, with tubing and pumps installed during December 2012 and construction of flowlines and tanks for water storage commencing early this year. Mahalo construction is now almost fully complete, with commissioning of the facilities about to commence and production operations expected to start in mid-April.

At the Mira Field, the four pilot wells were drilled in December 2012 and January 2013 and were immediately completed for production with pumps and tubing installed. Construction of flowlines and tanks for water storage is underway with that field expected to be ready for production operations in May.

Comet Ridge Managing Director, Tor McCaul, said the Mahalo Joint Venture was entering an exciting phase with production operations about to commence in two separate areas of the Mahalo Block.

The Mahalo pilot drilling results from 2012 and the Mira pilot drilling results, concluded early this year, demonstrate the presence of highly productive and continuous coals across the Mahalo block, and confirm that the ingredients required for successful pilot testing and reserves booking are present in both areas of the block. The objective of both these pilot production schemes is to demonstrate commercial gas flows at two points in the Mahalo Block, with the intention of achieving reserves certification later this year.

Lowesby West 1 Corehole Drilling

The Operator has decided to drill a non-Mahalo Block well to the south, before moving the rig to the northwest to drill the Lowesby West 1 well. This is the final well in the current Mahalo Block drilling programme and is expected to be drilled late this month.

Equity participants in ATP 337P Mahalo are Comet Ridge Mahalo Pty Ltd 35%, Stanwell Corporation Limited 5%, Australia Pacific LNG Pty Ltd 30% and Santos QNT Pty Ltd 30%.

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LNG World News Staff, April 04, 2013; Image: Comet Ridge