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Comet Ridge (ASX:COI) awarded ATP-status Mahalo East tender block

Energy
ASX:COI      MCAP $210.4M
29 September 2020 09:01 (AEST)

Energy company Comet Ridge (COI) has been formally granted one of two additional gas blocks by Queensland’s Government.

Early last week, the company announced that the Queensland Government had chosen Comet Ridge as preferred tenderer for the two gas blocks. The first of these blocks has formally been granted Authority to Prospect (ATP) Status.

Thanks to the Department of Natural Resources Mines and Energy, the ATP was awarded in remarkably short order.

The tender block PLR2020-1-1 has been officially awarded to the company as ATP 2061. Comet Ridge will be the 100 per cent operator of the block for an initial six-year term. 

ATP 2061, or Mahalo East, covers a 97-square kilometre area, and is named for its location immediately east of the company’s Mahalo North. 

It lies just north of Comet Ridge’s Mahalo Gas Project, and is situated within the project’s high-quality gas fairway. As such, it will be considered as an extension of the company’s gas project within the Mahalo Gas Hub area.

Comet Ridge will now begin planning an appraisal programme, which should commence around the end of 2021’s first quarter. The company’s Managing Director, Tor McCaul, commented on company movements at the Mahalo Gas Project going forward.

“The company will now focus on bringing the Mahalo Gas Hub area into development, with particular emphasis on Comet Ridge’s three 100 per cent owned and operated blocks, subject to sourcing project funding.

“The objective is to generate the lowest unit cost gas by sharing drilling and appraisal costs, and then utilising common infrastructure for development across the Mahalo Gas Hub,” he said.

Comet Ridge closed 1.08 per cent in the red for 9.2 cents per share.

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