Flood Waters Throw a Spanner to Metgasco's CSG Drilling Program

Australia's Metgasco confirmed Tuesday that its coal seam gas (CSG) drilling program in the onshore Clarence Moreton Basin will be delayed due to heavy flooding on the road network servicing the PEL 426 permit.

Speaking to Rigzone in an interview on Tuesday, a spokesperson representing Metgasco said that while drilling works at the Thornbill E04 exploration have been completed, the company is not able to move to the drilling rig to its next location due to slippery road conditions.

"We are aiming to move the rig to its drilling location either at the end of this week or early next week," the spokesperson said.

Metgasco said in a statement on Tuesday that it has completed drilling the Thornbill E04 CSG well with the rig, AJ Lucas Rig 103. The well, drilled to a depth of 2,297 feet (700 meters), was designed to investigate the thickness and reservoir characteristics of coal seams within the Walloon Coal Measures in PEL 426.

"The well has now been back filled with cement to the surface and abandoned as per Metgasco's well program. Restoration of the site will soon commence, returning the site to its predrill condition," the company noted in its statement.

Metgasco's drilling program for this year include completing two CSG core wells, three CSG lateral wells and a conventional exploration well. At present, Metgasco have 411 billion cubic feet (bcf) of 2P and 2.4 trillion cubic feet of 3P CSG reserves.

Parallel with its drilling program, Metgasco is seeking approval from the state government to allow it to sell gas locally.

Metgasco's drilling program this year is likely to be fraught with difficulties due to an anti-CSG movement taking place in New South Wales and Queensland. Last year, several protests which took place at the company's Glenugie site escalated into threatening situations. In one of the protests, demonstrators chained themselves to a truck and physically threaten contractors based on-site.

"We do not expect the on-going protest to affect our drilling program. At present, we have the police on-site to ensure the safety of our employees and the security our equipment," the spokesperson said.

Quintella has reported on the upstream and downstream oil and petrochemicals markets from 2004. Email Quintella at quintella.koh@rigzone.com.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

View the original article here