Page 12 - AsianOil Week 06

AsianOil OCEANIA AsianOil
Cooper signs industrial gas supply deal
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
AUSTRALIAN developer Cooper Energy has signed a multi-year natural gas supply agree- ment with glass product manufacturer O-I.
Cooper said on February 10 that it had agreed to supply the manufacturer with 1 petajoule (26.05mn cubic metres) per year for two years from January 1, 2021. The contract includes a three-year extension option.
Cooper said the gas would come from its share of production from the Casino Henry joint venture, which includes several petroleum licences offshore the state of Victoria. Cooper operates the joint venture’s interests with a 50% stake, while Mitsui E&P Australia owns the remaining share. Cooper said the contract was its third gas sales agreement with O-I, which committed to buying 1 PJ per year of gas from the Sole gas project in 2015 and also contracted gas supply from Casino Henry for 2019.
Cooper said its recently acquired Minerva gas plant was expected to deliver its first volumes of Casino Henry gas in the first half of 2021. The joint venture moved to acquire the plant in Sep- tember, when BHP Billiton ceased operations at the Minerva gas field.
Cooper said the Minerva Gas Plant would establish a low-cost gas processing hub for the venture’s existing offshore Otway gas production and new discoveries such as Annie.
The gas sales agreement with O-I provides for flexibility in processing arrangements, and the provision of gas on a firm basis once supply from the Minerva gas plant is established. Prior to that date, processing of gas from Casino Henry will remain at the Iona gas plant.
Commenting on the deal, Cooper man- aging director David Maxwell said the new contract was consistent with the company’s gas contracting strategy. He added: “We have chosen to focus our business on supply agree- ments with utility and blue-chip industrial customers that feature the right combination of price, term and load factor to deliver stable long-term cash flow and efficient production. This agreement is another example and we look forward to securing additional agree- ments in 2020.”
The contracted volume is approximately 17% of Cooper’s share of Casino Henry’s projected 2020 production of 6 PJ (156.29 mcm).™
State Gas troubleshoots Queensland well issues
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
AUSTRALIAN independent State Gas has said it believes that it has found solutions to produc- tion issues that have hit two of its three wells at its Reid’s Dome project in Queensland.
In a February 12 update on production testing of the three coal-bed methane (CBM) wells, State Gas said it had been troubleshoot- ing production problems at the Nyanda-4 and Serocold-1 wells for the past couple of weeks while heavy rains have kept it from accessing the site for that period. Reid’s Dome Beds, which is located in petroleum lease (PL) 231 in the Bowen Basin, is home to coal-bed methane (CBM), con- ventional and tight gas targets. State Gas operates the lease with a 100% interest.
The company has run into dewatering issues at both wells and has had to suspend pumping at both. Nyanda-4’s dewatering was temporarily halted owing to technical issues that interrupted the well’s depressurisation. The company said technical issues were also encountered during dewatering at Serocold-1, creating delays until new equipment could be installed. State Gas remains upbeat about Serocold-1’s potential, saying it is confident that the well will successfully produce CBM.
State Gas said: “With further rain forecast in the region, the company is currently prioritising the options for recommencement of dewatering as soon as it can access the site.”
While production has yet to start at PL 231’s third well – Aldinga East-1A – State Gas said it had shown an encouraging pressure build-up. This build-up, which the company said had been observed since the removal of drilling fluid in Janu- ary, suggested gas might have commenced flowing from the Cattle Creek Formation. State gas is mon- itoring the well and has said it will consider options for further testing in the coming months.
The production issues at Nyanda-4 have come after the company revised down the well’s initial production figures at the start of the year, fol- lowing an audit of the production test itself. The Brisbane-based company said on January 13 that after auditing all of the well’s results, the company had “identified flaws in externally specified and supplied metering equipment”. State Gas said the well was producing 120,000 cubic feet (3,398 cubic metres) per day as of January 13, down from the 436,000 cubic feet (12,348 cubic metres) per day of production announced on December 30.™
P12
w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 06 12•February•2020