The company told the ASX this morning the MSC-9 well had reached peak flows of 101,000 cubic feet of gas per day and MSC-10 was flowing at a maximum 13,000 cfd.

“We consider these early flow rates to be very encouraging considering that the wells are at such an early stage of dewatering,” Metgasco managing director David Johnson said.

MSC-9 has been on production test since March 31, pumping water around 45 barrels per day.

Meanwhile, the MSC-10 well experienced gas blockage, due to excess gas in the rotor, which required production testing to be stopped and tubing to be flushed back through the casing annulus. Dewatering of this well restarted on April 7 and the well is now flowing gas at 11,000 cfd and producing water at about 36 bpd.

Johnson said Metgasco plans to continue dewatering and monitoring gas flows from the horizontal wells over the next few weeks.

Metgasco owns 100% of PEL16, which is located near Casino and Lismore in northern NSW.

PEL 16 contains 1.08 trillion cubic feet of 3P (proven, probable and possible) and 21 billion cubic feet of 2P (proven and probable) gas reserves, which the company says are the largest independently-certified gas reserves in the state.

The company recently completed a five vertical well pilot program to test the gas production capability of the Richmond coal seam. This pilot program was extended to include drilling the two horizontal wells.