Comet Ridge Limited announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Jemena Limited to provide a framework for the parties to deliver much-needed additional gas supply into the domestic gas market from the Mahalo North Project (ATP 2048).
Under the MOU and related pre-FEED agreement, Comet Ridge has engaged Jemena to conduct an urgent pre-FEED study of a Jemena constructed, owned, and operated high-pressure gas transmission pipeline of approximately 73 kilometres from the Mahalo North Gas Project to Jemena’s Queensland Gas Pipeline (QGP).
According to Comet Ridge, Jemena has industry-leading expertise in designing, building, and operating gas processing and transmission pipelines that connect gas fields to Australia’s east coast market.
After the pilot production test, Comet Ridge certified 43 Petajoules of 2P Reserve and 110 Petajoules of 3P Reserve of natural gas for Mahalo North in November 2022. Comet Ridge hopes to swiftly produce these Gas Reserves using its new cooperation with Jemena to bring the infrastructure to market.
Such infrastructure would also unlock value in Comet Ridge’s other 100% owned land, such as Mahalo East, where the Company has independently certified 31 Petajoules of 2C Contingent Resource and 122 Petajoules of 3C Contingent Resource. The first focus of the pre-FEED study will be on providing Comet Ridge with a pipeline link from Mahalo North to the QGP for a minimum of 25 Terajoules per day of gas supply to the domestic market.
“The pre-FEED study with Jemena is being run in parallel with the previously announced joint study with Denison Gas, which provides for a potential earlier (westerly) route to market for Mahalo North gas, although at a lower gas rate and for a shorter-duration. This additional work with Jemena, on a longer and potentially larger diameter pipeline, is complementary to the work with Denison. Jemena’s gas pipeline would take a southerly route direct into Jemena’s own QGP, which gives us direct access to both Gladstone and Wallumbilla markets. This gas production would have a slightly later start date but would allow a larger volume of Comet Ridge gas into the domestic gas market, allowing our other projects, at Mahalo East and Mahalo Far East, to feed in sequentially. Jemena has the balance sheet, experience and expertise to be able to deliver this project quickly and efficiently, as it did with Senex on the Atlas development,” Comet Ridge Managing Director Tor McCaul said.
Jemena Managing Director Frank Tudor commented, “Today’s announcement will be welcomed by commercial and industrial customers who are seeking certainty of supply to underpin their operations in the face of forecast gas shortages over the medium and long-term. It is also good news for local communities in regional Queensland who stand to benefit from an influx of jobs and local contracts throughout the planning, construction, and commissioning of the proposed pipeline and broader development as part of Comet Ridge’s Mahalo North Project.”
