I know the Galilee quite well, I used to work up there on the coal rigs... The coal in the Galilee is actually fine in terms of rank. I've seen it as high as 0.8% and in the western part of the Galilee up to 1.1%.
There are massive areas of it that are 0.6 to 0.7% which is fine too. The sweet spots in the Surat and Bowen are 0.5 to 0.7%.
Likewise the ash content is okay, it's usually 10-30% in the cleaner seams which is the same as the Surat too.
The depth is fine too, it goes all the way from outcrop to 1600m so you can pick whatever depth you want for drilling.
The problem is there is just no gas there, except at Rodney Creek which has a little bit (50% saturation or so) and the big problem that has clean sandstones all through the coaly section, so AGL can't dewater the coals enough to get the gas to flow.
I don't think anyone has figured out why there's no gas there. Theories include something in the uplift history, hydrodynamic flow stripping the gas from the coals, or a combination. But the rank is high enough that the gas must have been generated at some stage. It's just not there any more.
Which is a pity, because if it was, the Galilee is so big it would make the Surat and Bowen look like child's play. Maybe it's a job for those guys who reckon they can pump microbes into the coals and get them to generate gas at an accelerated rate.
WCL Price at posting:
28.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
