Senex Energy has approved its first major investment in the Western Surat Gas project in Queensland, providing $50 million to the project’s well drilling campaign.
The investment involves the drilling of 30 wells and the construction of gas and water handling infrastructure.
The first wells online are expected in mid 2017, set to produce approximately 10 TJ of gas a day (approximately 0.6 mmboe per annum) by mid 2018.
Senex managing director and CEO Ian Davies said the work program would provide large gas volumes from drill ready acreage.
He added that the company has a clear plan to ramp up the project.
“We have seen immediate gas to surface from the Glenora pilot wells, brought online for continuous production in early February,” Davies said.
“We have also seen evidence of strong gas flows from wells on the Eos block during rehabilitation works being undertaken on legacy QGC wells. These results demonstrate that coal seams in the Glenora and Eos blacks have already been partially dewatered by neighbouring operations.”
The Glenora and Eos blocks are located south-east of the Western Surat Gas project, north of Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG)’s producing Roma field.
Davies added that the work program will provide the company a greater understanding of the resource to support an accelerated project timeline.
They also aim to drill, complete and connect an additional 30 to 50 wells throughout 2018.
“Under this scenario and subject to regulatory approvals, Senex can seamlessly transition to development phase targeting gas production of over 16TJ per day by 2019, equivalent to one million barrels of oil equivalent per annum,” he said.
The company plans to sell the raw gas to GLNG.