Eastern Star kicks off pilot CBM production project in Victoria
(5/10/2002 - Oil Gas Industries: Perth) Eastern Star gas said today its proposed five-well coalbed methane pilot production trial in Victoria, Australia's Melbourne Trough brown coals (EL 4507, Victoria) is expected to commence in late June or early July. The company has recently signed a standard access agreement with land owners at Oak Park, approximately 18 km south of Bacchus Marsh and 45 km west-southwest of Melbourne. Drilling operations will commence shortly after the Victoria Department of Natural Resources and Energy gives the necessary statutory approval for the project, which is expected in the next few weeks. The Melbourne Trough (Parwan Trough), located between the western suburbs of Melbourne and the town of Bacchus Marsh, contains the largest accumulation of brown coal in Australia outside of the Gippsland Basin. Previous coal exploration drilling in the Melbourne Trough has delineated a resource of 10-12 billion tons of brown coal in the so-called Maddingly Seam. The coal exhibits similar characteristics to that in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana, USA, that has in the past five years been developed as a prolific producer of coalbed methane. The company believes that the Maddingly Seam coal, which is almost wholly contained within the EL 4507 concession block, may be similarly prospective for CBM production. EL 4507 and the adjacent EL4392, where Eastern Star also holds 100% interest in the CBM rights, has a resource potential of up to 0.5 Tcf of gas if the contents, currently unknown, prove to be similar to the Powder River Basin.
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