News: Comet Ridge and Santos spud coal seam gas well in Queensland's Bowen Basin

Comet Ridge (ASX:COI) and Santos (ASX:STO) have spudded the Mahalo 7 surface to in-seam horizontal well at the ATP 337P Mahalo Block asset in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.

The surface hole was drilled to 74 metres overnight and this morning the rig was preparing to run surface casing.

This Mahalo 7 surface to in-seam horizontal well has been designed to maximise the use of current reservoir data and has been positioned inside the current pilot wells.

It will be drilled past the Mahalo 3 vertical well, intersecting the Mahalo 6 vertical well which will be utilised to lift the water and gas from the Mahalo 7 horizontal well.

The Mahalo 7 horizontal well is expected to run through 500 metres of coal before the intercept. This coal is at a depth of around 230 metres.

The Mahalo block sits 240 kilometres west of Gladstone in central Queensland and the joint venture has been operating two production pilot schemes at the Mahalo Field Pilot and Mira Field Pilot, since the first half of 2013.

Equity participants in ATP 337P Mahalo are Comet Ridge Mahalo (40%), Australia Pacific LNG (30%) and Santos QNT (30%).
Santos QNT is the exploration operator under the current agreement and has the responsibility for drilling the Mahalo 7 horizontal well.

Comet Ridge has significant Coal Seam Gas projects in key regions of Queensland, New South Wales and New Zealand, as well as oil and gas interests in the United States.