- Empire Energy (EEG), through Imperial Oil & Gas, has been awarded three grants under the Federal Government’s Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program
- EEG’s subsidiary entered into the grant agreements, which are poised to offset 25 per cent of costs associated with works at three appraisal wells in the Northern Territory
- The Northern Territory Government has approved the next phases of EEG’s work program and operations are restarting
- Shares are up 1.59 per cent at 32 cents each at 11:12 am AEST
Empire Energy (EEG) has been awarded three grants under the Australian Government’s Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program.
The company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Imperial Oil & Gas, entered into the grant agreements, which are poised to offset 25 per cent of costs associated with works at three horizontal appraisal wells.
These works are set to include seismic acquisition, drilling, fracture stimulation and flow testing of the wells on EEG’s EP187 tenement in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-basin.
Beetaloo grants to drive next phase of growth
Each grant is subject to a different monetary limit, with the first capped at $6.5 million for the Carpentaria-2 well, the second at $6.8 million for the Carpentaria-3 well and the third at $6 million for Carpentaria-4.
All up, the company said the grants would accelerate its Beetaloo work programs in line with the Federal Government’s Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan.
If successful, work programs supported by grant funding would facilitate an increase in contingent resources in EP187 and determine commercial flow rates for the Velkerri shale formation with the tenement.
This, in turn, would lead to negotiations around commercial gas sales agreements and the award of production licences.
Further, and subject to appraisal success and the future award of production licences, these wells would then become production wells.
Beetaloo work program update
Meanwhile, Empire has received State Government approval for its work program covering portions of the EP187 Environment Management Plan (EMP).
These relate to civil construction and seismic surveys in preparation for the upcoming horizontal appraisal drilling and fracture stimulation programs, which are expected to begin in the coming days.
Accordingly, approval for the drilling and fracture stimulation components of the EMP are anticipated shortly.
Additionally, Empire is finalising preparations to restart flow testing operations at the Carpentaria-1 vertical well in late September, after it was closed temporarily due to COVID-related restrictions.
Results of the flow testing program are expected to generate important data for the company’s technical team as it decides which of the four productive Velkerri shale zones to land the first horizontal appraisal wells.
Shares were up 1.59 per cent at 32 cents each at 11:12 am AEST.