Vintage Energy Ltd announces that Comet Ridge, as the operator of the Galilee Basin Deeps Joint Venture (GBDJV, Vintage 15%), has signed an agreement with Synterra Technologies to acquire 300 - 420 km of new 2D seismic across the Galilee Basin permits, ATP 743, ATP 744 and ATP 1015. The seismic acquisition, to be undertaken by Terrex Seismic, is expected to commence in early December 2018 and take approx. 6 weeks to acquire. The estimated gross cost of the survey will be up to $3.5 million and includes both acquisition and processing of the newly acquired data and reprocessing of 619 km of pre-existing 2D seismic data.

Vintage Energy Galilee acreage Source: Vintage Energy 

Under Stage 2 of the GBDJV farm-in commitment, Vintage will fund 50% of the planned $10 million capital expenditure program to earn an additional 15% interest in the Joint Venture. The 2D seismic program is the first component of the Stage 2 farm-in commitment and Vintage will therefore fund 50% ($1.75 million) of the program cost. Upon completion of Stage 2 commitments, which will also include further drilling on the Albany gas field, Vintage will have earnt a 30% interest in the Joint Venture. The Operator has commenced purchasing long lead items such as casing, wellhead and associated equipment for the drilling of  Albany-2 and re-entry of Albany-1. Any Stage 2 expenditure above $10 million will revert to Joint Venture interest levels post completion of the farm-in (Comet Ridge 70%, Vintage 30%).

The 2D seismic acquisition will focus on identified Lake Galilee Sandstone leads and prospects to mature them to drillable status and also regional seismic to investigate highly prospective structural trends with multi-level targets. The acquisition has been expanded from 275 km to between 300 - 420 km to address the increased prospectivity of the region resulting from the successful flow testing undertaken at Albany-1. The seismic data will be processed immediately to identify drilling targets for 2019 and areas for further infill seismic.

Vintage Managing Director, Neil Gibbins said:
"Vintage is excited by the potential of the GBDJV permits and looks forward to commencing the Stage 2 farm-in program and assessing the opportunities addressed by the expanded 2D seismic program."