Apologies if this has already appeared, some snippets from McClure.
Coal bed methane producer EGL eyes Benelux after French buy
London (Platts)--5May2008 After buying up much of France's potential coal mine methane sites, Australian company European Gas Ltd, now plans to expand over the border to secure exploration rights in the Benelux countries. In an interview with Platts, EGL's director Anthony McClure said the Wallonia region of Belgium is the company's next target.
EGL is looking to take advantage of gas price rises in recent years by tapping the potential for methane gas found in Western Europe's coal basins, both in disused mines and other coal bed areas, McClure said.
In early April, EGL signed an agreement with Belgium's Transcor to form a joint-venture called Benelux JV, which aims to explore, produce and market hydrocarbons, including CBM and CMM, in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Transcor is an international supplier of energy products and a subsidiary of CNP, the company owned by Belgian billionaire Albert Frere that owns 9.4% of utility group Suez and 5% of Total.
Transcor funded EGL's December 2007 buyout of Gazonor, a subsidiary of state-owned coal mining company Charbonnages de France, which holds three CMM production assets in the northern Nord-Pas de Calais region. Transcor used convertible notes to fund the buy which, if converted, would give Transcor an 18% stake in EGL.
Between 2003 and 2007, some 40 million cubic metres per year of methane was produced from Gazonor's three French sites and proven reserves amount to around 865 million cu m.
EGL estimates the cost of gas production at Eur13/MWh, which compares with a forward price at Belgium's Zeebrugge hub of around Eur32/MWh for the 2008 gas year.
The company is looking to expand production at the sites, where, it says, there is much CBM potential, and is exploring in the Lorraine region in eastern France, the southern region of Gardanne, and Saint Etienne and Lons Le Saunier in the center of the country.
IN TALKS WITH BELGIAN AUHTORITIES
The Transcor-backed Benelux JV venture is now in discussions with Belgian authorities over certain sites in the French-speaking Wallonia region, McClure said.
"We are looking at mimicking what we're doing in France and there is pretty substantial potential, not just in coal mine methane but also in coal bed methane," he said.
"In France we have secured the bulk of the acreage that is amenable to coal bed methane and coal mine methane... it's going to be big business in Europe in the coming years...there is no reason why it shouldn't be," he added. EGL has carried out regional geological surveys in Walonia, McClure said.
"Over the coming months we hope to have a lot more clarity on where we are going to commence our operations," he said.
The company sees potential for coal mine methane in the region, but longer-term, coal bed methane shows better prospects, McClure said, and the company also has Luxembourg and the Netherlands in its sights:
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