Energy company Comet Ridge has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jemena to establish a framework for a new gas pipeline connection for the former’s Mahalo North gas project in Australia.
In this regard, the companies have also signed a pre-front end engineering design (FEED) to facilitate the delivery of new gas supply from the Mahalo North project.
Under the MOU and pre-FEED agreement, Jemena will soon undertake a pre-FEED study of its built, owned, and operated high-pressure gas transmission pipeline of about 73km from the Mahalo North project to Jemena’s Queensland gas pipeline.
The pre-FEED will focus on a pipeline connection for a minimum of 25 Terajoules per day of gas supply to the domestic market, said Comet Ridge.
Jemena managing director Frank Tudor said: “Today’s announcement means we will be able to leverage our experience and understanding of regional Queensland to conduct a pre-FEED study with a view to constructing a 73km pipeline which is capable of delivering around 25 Terajoules of gas per day to the domestic market.”
Located north of the Mahalo gas project, the Mahalo North project covers a total area of 450km2 and is completely operated by Comet Ridge.
The Mahalo gas project is owned by a joint venture between Comet Ridge and Santos holding 70% and 30% stake, respectively.
It is located in the Dension Trough, nearly 240km west of Gladstone in the southern Bowen Basin.
In November 2022, Comet Ridge received independent certification of 43 Petajoules of 2P Reserve and 110 Petajoules of 3P Reserve of natural gas for the Mahalo North project.
The certification was announced after the pilot production test which achieved a gas flow rate of 1.75 million cubic feet per day.
Comet Ridge expects to finalise environment and petroleum lease applications for the Mahalo North gas project and submit to respective government departments by Q3 2023.
The environmental approvals and petroleum lease award are anticipated in Q2 2024, with the first gas from the project scheduled in Q4 2025.
Comet Ridge Managing Director, Tor McCaul, said: “The pre-FEED study with Jemena is being run in parallel with the previously announced joint study with Denison Gas, which provides for a potential earlier (westerly) route to market for Mahalo North gas, although at a lower gas rate and for a shorter-duration.
“This additional work with Jemena, on a longer and potentially larger diameter pipeline, is complementary to the work with Denison.”
The companies intend to look for opportunities to streamline the pipeline size to accommodate a much larger volume of gas from the entire Mahalo Gas Hub area before the completion of the finalisation of the studies and starting of construction.
