Comet Ridge holds 100% equity in both permits which are located about 500 kilometers northwest of Gladstone and cover a combined total area of approximately 13,000 square kilometers.

A number of petroleum and CSG exploration wells drilled since the 1960s in the area of the Galilee basin where the permit is situated, intersected thick Permian coals over a wide area. Comet Ridge will be targeting these coals in its upcoming 8-well, core hole drilling programme.

Comet Ridge’s Managing Director Tor McCaul said the award of ATP 744 enabled the company to roll out its upcoming Galilee exploration programme with maximum flexibility across both blocks following the recent finalization of a drilling contract with Atlas Drilling Co Pty Ltd.

Technical work undertaken by MBA Petroleum Consultants indicates significant gas-in-place potential of 36 trillion cubic feet (TCF) within the two Galilee Basin blocks.

McCaul said the upcoming drilling programme, scheduled to get underway in November, would obtain coal thickness and gas content values over a wide area of Comet Ridge’s portion of the eastern Galilee Basin to update the gas-in-place estimate ahead of any pilot production scheme.