The agreement will enable CSIRO's Division of Petroleum Resources and its Division of Energy Technology to perform reservoir characterisation for coalbed methane production in the Sydney Basin. "This will assist Sydney Gas to develop its 300 well Camden Gas Project and other areas within PELs 2, 4 and 267 that are earmarked for future development," SGC said in a statement.

According to SGC, the collaborative research program will take CSIRO's expertise in the field of coal seam gas research and augment the company's overall research into ways of optimising production from the Sydney Basin. "This integrated, multi-disciplinary approach on the part of CSIRO and Sydney Gas will deliver a thorough understanding of coalbed methane distribution and production potential, and will assist in estimating reserves and locating higher producing fairways and sweet spots for future production," SGC said. "This should lead to a reduction of Sydney Gas' exploration costs and maximise its yields from production wells across the Sydney Basin."

Sydney Gas' chief executive officer, Dr Bruce Butcher, said that the agreement with CSIRO emphasises the importance that Sydney Gas places upon innovation and technology. "By working closely with CSIRO and others on ways to enhance the industry's understanding of the coal reservoirs in the Sydney Basin, we should be able to identify higher producing areas for future coalbed methane development across the entire Basin," Dr Butler said. "CSIRO will equip Sydney Gas with the research and technical data necessary to perform state of the art reservoir modelling based on the results of field and laboratory investigations of permeability, porosity, reservoir pressure, gas content, gas composition, sorption isotherms and diffusivity."

Dr Mohinudeen Faiz has been appointed by CSIRO as its project manager and project leader for this research program. Other key CSIRO researchers who will be working with Dr Faiz include Mike Fold, Dr Linda Stalker and Dr Abouna Saghafi.