Project Profile
Value: US$400 million
Location: Hunter Valley, Newcastle – Scone – Merriwa, Australia
Reserves: 300 million cubic feet of natural gas (8.5 million cubic metres)
Wholly owned and operated by AGL, the Hunter Gas Project aims to secure gas resources for the people of the Hunter and NSW. In the Hunter, AGL is exploring for coal seam gas (CSG) under Petroleum Exploration Licences 4 and 267 (PELs). These licences cover much of the Hunter Valley, an area from the outskirts of Newcastle in the south through to Scone and Merriwa in the north. In late 2005, AGL entered into a joint venture with Sydney Gas Limited (SGL) which had already been exploring in the area. In April 2009, AGL assumed 100% ownership and operatorship of the PELs after the acquisition of SGL. Since acquiring the PELs, AGL has continued the exploration drilling of a number of prospective areas within the wider Hunter Gas Project area. In October 2010, as a result of this exploration, AGL booked first reserves for the project of an estimated proved plus probable (2P) gas reserves of 142 petajoules (PJ) and proved plus probable plus possible (3P) reserves of 271 PJ. In total summed to 300 million cubic feet of natural gas. Minerals, including gas, in NSW are owned by the Crown and are excluded from property deeds. The company has invested more than US$400 million in the coal seam gas project. AGL has obtained about 300 kilometres of seismic data. It has also flow-tested two pilot wells and drilled 16 core holes and six stratigraphic holes.
In August 2015 AGL commenced the decommissioning eight gas wells and two seismic monitoring bores in the Hunter Valley. The decommissioning work follows AGL’s recent decision to exit the Hunter Gas Project and sell back its two Petroleum Exploration Licenses in the Hunter region to the NSW Government.
Operators:
NSW Government: Operator with 100% interest
Contractros:
AGL Energy: the permanent decommissioning of eight gas wells and two seismic monitoring bores. (August, 2015)