Comet Ridge announced the start of the Mahalo East Pilot production program late last week.
The Mahalo East 1 (ME1) and lateral Mahalo East 2 (ME2) vertical wells were successfully drilled in October and November last year.
The lateral well ME2 intersected the vertical well ME1, drilling a total of 1,338 m of coal.
During the pilot production test phase, the reservoir fluid (water and natural gas) from the natural gas fractures will flow down the lateral ME2 well and then enter the vertical ME1 well.
The water is lifted to the surface via a pump in the borehole, while the gas will also flow through the well.
Comet Ridge has also reported that the gas desorption phase of the laboratory analysis of the core from the vertical well ME1 is nearing completion, with significant volumes of gas having been detected desorbing from the coal samples.
In late November last year, a completion rig was deployed to install production tubing and a progressive cavity pump in the ME1 well to lift water.
The production separator, flare and metering skid were moved from the Mahalo North pilot area and installed on the ME1 well pad.
In addition, a temporary lined ring tank was set up to collect and manage the produced water.
Both wells received support from the Queensland Government’s Frontier Gas Exploration Grants program, with Comet Ridge receiving A$5 million ($3.11 million) in funding.
In December 2024, the Mahalo Joint Venture project reached a major milestone with approval to begin the front-end engineering design (FEED) phase.
Comet Ridge will work with Santos on the upstream FEED process to finalize the work program and planning for the coming weeks.
“Comet Ridge Starts Production at Mahalo East Pilot in Australia” was originally created and published by Offshore Technology, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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