Highlights

  • Eastern Gas Corporation has commenced drilling at Venus-2H, the first horizontal coal seam gas well drilled in the region, at its 100%-owned Project Venus in Queensland's Surat Basin.
  • Venus-2H is designed to intersect with the existing Venus-1 well to form an integrated production pilot, with drilling expected to take approximately 14 days.
  • Project Venus carries contingent gas resource estimates of 87.7 PJ (1C), 130.3 PJ (2C) and 157.9 PJ (3C), with a further 536 PJ of prospective resource on a best estimate basis.
  • The campaign marks Eastern Gas Corporation's first drilling program since listing on the ASX.

Eastern Gas Corporation Limited (ASX:EGA) has commenced drilling at Venus-2H, the first horizontal coal seam gas well to be drilled in the region, as part of its 100%-owned Project Venus in Queensland's Surat Basin. The well is designed to intersect with the company's existing Venus-1 well to form an integrated production pilot, marking Eastern Gas Corporation's first drilling campaign since its ASX listing.

Drilling Underway at Venus-2H

Venus-2H is being drilled using the Silver City Drilling Rig 34, with the drilling program expected to take approximately 14 days to complete. The well has been specifically designed as a Horizontal Well to intersect with the company's existing Venus-1 well, which has already undergone a workover and been prepared for integrated pilot operations. Once intersection is achieved, the two wells are intended to operate together as an integrated production pilot within the ATP 2051 licence area.

Managing Director David Spring described the commencement of drilling as “a defining milestone for Eastern Gas,” noting that the program is designed to “generate a comprehensive dataset on reservoir connectivity, pressure behaviour, water production and gas deliverability.” That dataset is expected to underpin the company's understanding of how the Venus reservoir will perform under an integrated horizontal-vertical well configuration.

Resource Base and Project Context

Project Venus carries contingent gas resource estimates of 87.7 petajoules on a 1C basis, 130.3 petajoules on a 2C basis, and 157.9 petajoules on a 3C basis, alongside a further 536 petajoules of prospective resource on a best estimate basis. The Venus-2H well and its planned intersection with Venus-1 is intended to help convert part of that resource base into a better-defined, production-tested asset, providing real-world data on how the coal seam gas reservoir responds to an integrated well pair rather than relying solely on resource estimates derived from exploration and appraisal data.

Conclusion

With drilling now underway at Venus-2H, Eastern Gas Corporation (ASX:EGA) is moving into a data-gathering phase that management has flagged as central to understanding the commercial potential of Project Venus. The forthcoming sequence of milestones, drilling completion, well intersection, and production testing, will each provide incremental information on reservoir connectivity and gas deliverability. As this is the company's first drilling campaign since listing, investors may want to treat the results as an early test of execution as much as a technical readout, and watch for the flow testing and gas deliverability data the company has said it will release as the pilot progresses.