The top of the Beaumont formation coals was encountered at 453m with deepest coal at 521m in the Morley formation. Initial crush test results on representative coal cores, recovered from 477m, indicate coals contain 2.43 m3 / tone of methane gas. This result is consistent with regional Beaumont formation coal data and will be used to build the company’s understanding of the CSG potential in the area. The remaining recovered coals will be sent for further coal characterization and long-term gas desorption analysis.
The Bogle-1 well is the first of seven wells in the company’s 2009 CSG exploration program. The first three core wells, Bogle-1, Mt Linton-1 and Belmont-1 aim to evaluate the Beaumont formation coals previously encountered in the Goodwin-1 and Wairaki-1 wells. Following these core wells four more wells are planned for this year, including stratigraphic wells which are designed to confirm the extent of the Beaumont coals in each of the Takitimu North and Longwoods coal trends.
The drilling campaign is designed to firm up the CSG potential in the company’s onshore Western Southland basin permits. Initial analysis indicates the permits may hold up to 300 PJ of CSG resources.
