the age news gas prospect hot in galilee basin

Gas prospects hot in Galilee Basin

QUEENSLAND'S Galilee Basin is shaping as the next hot area for coal seam gas exploration after AGL Energy agreed to invest up to $37 million for half of one of the permits in the basin owned by Galilee Energy.

Galilee Energy is an unlisted public company with about 25 shareholders, but its major holder is listed explorer Eastern Corp, which has a 68% stake.

AGL will fund the first production testing on Eastern's ground. Eastern drilled a successful exploration well last year, but has yet to determine the flow rates it could achieve from wells in the area.

Eastern's business development manager, Sam Aarons, said coal seams in the Galilee Basin were deeper and further from pipelines than those in the Surat and Bowen basins and so had been overlooked.

Eastern will keep full control of another permit in the region and might bid for more permits in a Queensland Government tender that closes next month. But it estimates it has 20 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in place at its present holdings.

Eastern shares closed 10.5¢ higher at 38¢ on the news, which came a day after Britain's BG Group highlighted the prospectivity of the basin in a discussion about its bid for Origin Energy.

In a recent reserves update, Origin said its Galilee Basin permits had the potential for about 17.9 TCF of "prospective resources". But BG chief executive Frank Chapman said on Thursday he believed all Origin's ground in the basin was subject to "reversion", which meant the original owner, Tri-Star Petroleum, would eventually regain rights to 45% of the permits.

BG accused Origin of not properly disclosing the reversion rights, which have the potential to cut Origin's resources. But details describing which permits would eventually see interests revert were given in the Target's Statement for Origin's 2003 acquisition of the remainder of Oil Company of Australia.

At the time, the reversion rights were described as rights to "recovery of costs", based on acquisition, development and operational costs. Origin's interest in the Santos-operated Fairview field is expected to increase to 25.4% from 23.8% following the recovery of costs.

But that increase is the exception after reversions. Origin's interest in its Spring Gully field will reduce. Each permit will experience a different reduction.

Credit Suisse analyst Sandra McCullagh said she would prefer to see an independent expert's assessment of the impact of the reversion rights that on her estimates could reduce Origin's value by between 68¢ and $2 a share. She valued Origin at $21.24 a share without counting the reversion rights, but said that was at the "top of the market".