Comet Ridge signed a formal native title agreement with the registered Native Title Claimant
Comet Ridge owns 40% stake in Mahalo JV area in Queensland, Australia. (Credit: 272447 from Pixabay)
The Australian state of Queensland’s Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (DNRME) in has awarded the Authority to Prospect No 2048 (ATP 2048), Mahalo North Block, to Australian energy company Comet Ridge.
Comet Ridge was selected by DNRME as preferred tenderer status in late October 2019.
Since then the firm had secured the Environmental Authority (EA) from the Department of Environment and Science as well as signed a formal native title agreement with the registered Native Title Claimant.
Mahalo North Block located north of Mahalo JV area
Comet Ridge chairman James McKay said that the block is not only large and highly prospective but is located just north of the ATP1191 Mahalo Joint Venture (JV) area in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
Comet Ridge owns a 40% stake in the JV. Other stakeholders in the JV include Santos and APLNG, with both companies holding a 30% interest each.
In a press statement, Comet Ridge said: “Based on the extensive data set within the Mahalo Gas Project, Comet Ridge has modelled that a dual lateral well in this fairway, if drilled to 1500m in length, could flow in the range of 2 to 3 MMscf/d (millions of standard cubic feet of gas per day).
“This is consistent with upscaling of the observed well performance from the much shorter Mahalo 7 and Mira 6 lateral wells and will be refined following testing of the initial Mahalo North pilot wells.”
The firm is currently undertaking technical and planning work on fairway running from Mahalo up into Mahalo North block.
As per the conceptual development plans, the Mahalo North block has the potential to deliver up to 20 terajoules per day (TJ/d).