from dls and bpt re cooper basin, page-14

G'day Doc. We should not be "disappointed with Halifax".

And there is no simple answer to your question.
Today, there has been released a 240 odd page report that has been prepared by the Australian Council of Learned Academies called Engineering Energy, Unconventional Gas Production. It's a massive study and report and if you just Google up ACOLA.secretariat.org.au/ACOLA/index.php and then click on the latest News item, you will see how much work is going on relating to unconventional gas in Australia.

Yet, what "headlines" do we read from Business Spectator, The Australian, The Fin Review etc etc etc?

Yes, gas prices will need to double for shale gas to be economical!!!

Holy moley. THIS is the type of selective journalism, presented by LAZY journos, who are just interested in a quick throwaway headline, with absolutely no consideration of the consequences.

Those headlines ARE relevant, BUT, only based upon the price that is currently being paid on the domestic market, principally NSW and QLD. It implies that the shale gas exploreres have to cut THEIR costs to enable the NSW and QLD consumers to keep paying the same price as they are now!! Who's kidding who??

Well, someone needs to tell these journos that ALL, yes, ALL the gas that is currently being produced and is likely to be produced from conventional and "unconventional" sources has already been sold, at export prices, much higher than the current domestic price, and will be completely economical on that basis. Would they be spending $150 BILLION developing these LNG plants if they didn't already have those numbers in the bag?? Barley.

And these eastern state governments are making it virtually impossible for explorers to find any more "conventional" gas. What is the outcome of those incredible regulations? Yes, a huge inbalance between supply and demand and what does that mean, HIGHER PRICES. Much higher prices. It is a massive SELLERS' market!!
Governments and consumers cannot have it both ways!!

And why should explorers give a damn and why will "unconventional gas" be explorers' prime target, especially from the Copper Basin??

And Icon has already sold 40 million tonnes of LNG over 20 years and is in the process of trying to prove up that gas to bring that GSA into play, Halifax-1, Hervey-1, Keppel-1 etc etc etc and they are working on that NOW.
But, no word of that in these glib shock headlnes that do so much damage to all of us by putting this dark cloud over ALL gas explorers.

99% of that report and 100% of the journos feed from those reports are totally irrelevantto Icon's position, but, tell that to the market and those journos!!

Icon is in THE most advantageous position of nearly ALL O&G explorers in Australia. They have a 20 year GSA, they have Chevron as a partner who have committed $349 million into 218 and 855, they have 40% of 855, they are in the Cooper Basin and in the best part of it, the Nappamerri Trough and have three more wells on the immediate books, two of which are being drilled now and they've got the cash in the bank to pay for them!!
None of that in those journos stories!!

And to your question Doc. This is new territory fo Beach and Icon and results to date have confirmed a basin centered gas province, with gas saturated zones of over 1000 metres. Now, all they have done so far is to identify the gas source and now they will be trying to work out the best and cheapest way to extract it. It is THERE!!
With those 1000 metre zones, this is perfect for the new technology that has been in place in the U.S., whereby they will be able to do multiple horizontals from just the one vertical well platform. That is what they want to achieve and Santos, and you can bet, Chevron, will have that as their prime objective. Success there will significantly cut the cost of production.

So, the often asked question of what flow rate will be "acceptable" become superfluous, as until they test these new procedures, we have no idea what each of these wells is "capable" of producing. But, with free gas flows already being released and with 1000 metre gas saturated zones, we are well on the way to answering that critical question.

BUT, first let's take it one step at a time. Let's keep finding gas in Hervey-1 and Keppel-1, to tell us that we at least have enough gas in place to enable this more technical exploration to take place, then, the sky is the limit.