Empire Energy teams with NT govt for gas delivery

ASX-listed Empire Energy looks to be making a lot of powerful friends after rubber stamping a memorandum of understanding, or “MoU” with Northern Territory Government owned Power and Water Corporation for the potential sale and transportation of gas from Empire’s NT assets. The budding partnership could see Empire leverage, for its own gas delivery, Power and Water’s McArthur River Gas Pipeline that intersects it’s Carpentaria-1 and Carpentaria-2H wells en route to a major highway and nearby gas plant.

The move caps a busy month for the Sydney-based company. Less than a week ago, Empire inked a deal with APA Group that would see the duo explore opportunities to develop mid-stream infrastructure in the Beetaloo Sub-basin including gas and liquid gathering, processing and pipelines. Empire said the APA partnership would promote rapid production-to-market capabilities by using its associates existing gas transmission infrastructure.

The APA MoU included the dual strategic objective of the expansion of Darwin’s LNG export facilities and the construction of a pipeline to Mount Isa. The pipeline, in turn would allow gas to be moved to the east-coast domestic markets and exported as LNG through Gladstone.

Empire says its recent ventures with Power and Water Corporation and APA have progressed its pathway to production and the timing of the deals looks to be exquisite.

In the same time frame as inking two separate MoU’s, Empire also scored a significant success with its most recent well test. Having recorded an almost 45 per cent increase in the average flow rate, the results appear to emphasise the massive development potential of its Beetaloo Sub-basin acreage through its Carpentaria-1 borehole.

The well initially had its first round of extended production testing or “EPT” suspended due to pandemic related travel constraints. However, after being left idle for roughly two months, the well came roaring back to life notching an average of 0.364 million cubic feet of gas per day over its first 10 days of testing.

The COVID curse looks to have been a blessing in disguise for Empire, with the company saying the increased production rates could be associated with the diffusion of water into the basin’s shales, increasing the basins fractures and creating more gas production pathways over the shutdown period.

Empire has since incorporated the data from Carpentaria-1 into basin-specific reservoir completion and simulation packages and will use this data to sniff out key shale targets with its Carpentaria-2H appraisal drilling program now underway.

Empire is the first Beetaloo operator to demonstrate a clear path to market at a time when forecast gas supply to Australia’s East Coast, and growing Asian markets, is increasingly constrained. The MOU’s we have signed with APA Group and Power Water Corporation will give us access to existing and planned pipeline infrastructure, from both our Eastern and Western Beetaloo properties, and a ready customer for our early gas production consistent with our Rapid Commercialistion Strategy.

The busy days for Empire Energy look to have only just begun. The months ahead are stacked with both drill programs and hydraulic simulation which have been approved for up to seven horizontal wells across its Northern Territory landholdings.

With a cool $30 million in the kitty, a trilogy of grant agreements for up to $19.3 million under the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program and a couple of significant partnerships under its belt, this gas exploration junior looks to be growing up fast.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@wanews.com.au