The purpose-built rigs will be used to drill for coal seam methane for Santos’ Queensland operations, including the recently announced Gladstone LNG project.

Easternwell Group said the agreement would see it become the largest provider of rig services in onshore Australia, both in terms of number of employees and rig count.

If final agreement is reached, Easternwell will build, commission, maintain and operate a number of new drilling rigs to provide drilling services to Santos operated coal seam gas business in Queensland, said Easternwell managing director Troy Campbell.

“Not only will Easternwell be helping to provide clean energy alternatives, but it will be doing so by using the company’s state-of-the-art 600 horse power Advantage Driller rigs, which are engineered and manufactured in Toowoomba,” he said.

The Advantage Driller Rigs were the first major improvement in drilling rig design in Australia for 30 years and incorporated a range of innovative, best-in-class technologies, according to Campbell. The most important of these was the modular design incorporating fully automated pipe-handling and rig-floor systems.

“This will greatly improve worker safety and is far more efficient than traditional drilling methods resulting in increased productivity and less downtime,” he said.