Comet Ridge has been awarded ATP 743 by the Queensland Government, which covers an area of 6,476 square kilometres in central Queensland located 500 kilometres northwest of Gladstone in the Galilee Basin.
Previous petroleum and CSG exploration wells in an area of the basin where the permit is situated have intersected thick Permian coals over a wide area and Comet Ridge will be targeting those coals in its upcoming eight-well corehole drilling program.
In addition, both Native Title and Environmental approvals have been obtained for the neighbouring permit ATP 774, which lies to the southeast of ATP 743, and Comet Ridge expects that this additional permit will be awarded to them in the near future.
Drilling is expected to commence in December 2009 with significant gas-in-place potential independently reported as 36 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) in the two Galilee Basin blocks.
Meanwhile, WestSide will acquire two petroleum exploration tenements with a combined area of 12,480 square kilometres in the north western part of the Galilee Basin, which the company believes could contain up to 21 Tcf of gas-in-place.
An exploration program is planned to commence in 2010, with an initial drilling program to identify the extent of the coal resource and its gas content.
Successful results from WestSide’s initial drilling program could lead to up to forty holes being drilled across each tenement in the first four years to prove the extent of the resource and target the certification of gas reserves.