Old WCRs are a treasure trove for the investor who knows what he's looking for. Anybody considering investing in the Galilee Basin for example should on QDEX (the Qld equivalent of DIGS, but needs registration) look up some of the early CSG wells drilled there by Enron in the mid to late 90s.
The CEO of Blue Energy can tell you the Galilee is a company maker (while not releasing their well results), but take a look at the gas contents Enron found, not to mention the permeable sands in direct contact with the coals (almost unheard of anywhere else) and you'll have some idea of what the Galilee explorers are up against.
For the Gunnedah you can do the same thing and I will look up a few more when I have time. Generally the results I've seen have been pretty good and combined with the production data ESG has released I feel confident about its viability.
CO2 is an issue and it's not quite as simple as just avoiding drilling near intrusions. CO2 can migrate, particularly in permeable coals. Later biogenic activity can also complicate things.
But what ESG has done is define low-CO2 fairways and steer clear of them. They will definitely need some sort of CO2 scrubbing technology when they go into full production though. Some conventional fields in the Denison Trough in Qld produce sales gas with CO2 contents up to 30%, and that's wellhead gas. ESG wellhead gas will not be anywhere near that high because as you said controlling the drawdown pressure can keep the well off the CO2 isotherm and prevent most of the inherent CO2 from being desorbed.
ESG Price at posting:
60.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
