1.2.3.2.1 Gippsland Gas Project (Ignite Energy Resources)

The only CSG development project currently proposed in the Gippsland Basin bioregion is at a very early stage of exploration and assessment. Apart from the initial drilling of the first CSG pilot well in 2005 (Section 1.2.1 .2.2), there have been no other major field-based exploration activities such as additional well drilling and formation testing. Consequently, there remains significant geological uncertainty about the commercial scale presence and viability of biogenic CSG resources in the brown coals of the Traralgon Formation.

Ignite Energy Resources (IER) hold the largest exploration tenement (EL 4416) targeting potential CSG resources in the Gippsland Basin bioregion. Following the drilling of the Burong #2 CSG pilot well in EL 4416 (Section 1.2.1.2.2), IER (in conjunction with then joint venture partner ExxonMobil) developed plans for drilling additional wells to better understand important coal seam parameters, such as the percentage of gas saturation within the coals, and coal seam permeability (IER and ExxonMobil, 2012). However, to date, this work has not been undertaken, and ExxonMobil withdrew from their Gippsland joint venture with IER in December 2014. Thus, there remains considerable uncertainty as to when any further exploration and appraisal for CSG resources will take place within EL 4416. This work is critically required to understand fundamental characteristics of the target coal formations, such as establishing if gas is trapped within the coal seams and, if present, whether it could be viably extracted or not (Goldie Divko, 2015). At the time of writing, there are no clear development plans available that document the nature, timing or extent of future work for the Gippsland Gas Project.

There is currently little exploration being undertaken for CSG resources in the black coals of the Strzelecki Group in southern Gippsland. There are no specific black coal CSG development proposals to include in this section. As previously noted (Section 1.2. 1.2.1), the thin and discontinuous nature of the black coal seams, and their widespread structural disruption (i.e. fault displacement), suggests that the CSG prospectivity of black coals in the Gippsland Basin bioregion is poor (Goldie Divko, 2015).

Last updated:
8 January 2018
Thumbnail of the Gippsland bioregion

Product Finalisation date

2016