Central Petroleum (ASX: CTP) holds an extensive package of prospective acreage of over 270,000 km2 in central Australia, which is predominately in the Pedirka Basin, along with 25,000 km2 in the Southern Georgina Basin.
Apart from conventional gas potential, the company has had independent estimates of over 10,000 trillion cubic feet in UCG "syngas" prospective recoverable resources.
Central Petroleum steps up coal exploration in Pedirka Basin
A subsidiary of Central Petroleum (ASX: CTP) has made three new applications under the Mining Act of the Northern Territory.
ELA application numbers 28095, 28096 and 28097 cover over 3,000 km2 in the little known northern part of the Pedirka Basin in central Australia.
Central holds a 100% interest in Merlin Coal Pty Ltd and is operator. There are no Joint Venture partners involved in Merlin Coal Pty Ltd’s granted exploration permits and applications.
John Heugh, Central’s managing director, said “publically released results of the 2009-2010 coal seam gas (CSG) drilling programme within Central’s Petroleum Act permits in the Pedirka Basin have provided some really interesting results in terms of the thicknesses and disposition of coal seams encountered.”
“The company has received expressions of interest in the potential coal exploration targets it covers under the Mining Act in the Pedirka Basin and so it is logical that we should attempt to consolidate our position here."
The company said it has begun to investigate potential for Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), and Coal to Liquids (CTL).
CTL may involve mining coal either by underground and/or open-cut methods, gasifying the coal at the surface to produce “syngas” (a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen) and processing the syngas via GTL (gas to liquids) technology to potentially produce a range of liquid petroleum products including diesel and jet fuel.
Central said coal beneficiation studies are also planned which are aimed at evaluating the potential for the economic transport of mined coal to other destinations for further useage.
Previous independent reports have estimated the total tonnage of coal above 1,000m as being 635 billion tonnes to 865 billion tonnes within Merlin Coal Pty Ltd’s mineral leases.
In Central’s petroleum leases in the same area 1,110 billion tonnes to 1,385 billion tonnes above 1,000m is in the JORC “Exploration Target” category according to Mulready and Maynard's report published in June 2009.
Central said coal intersected to date is generally sub-bituminous in grade, and as such would probably be limited to gasification or thermal coal applications.
Heugh added that investors should note that "the potential quantity and grade of the coal is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource."
