The JV was formed when the US subsidiaries of Sun Resources and Victoria Petroleum farmed into 33,000-acre Green River Basin leases held by Kestrel Energy, a subsidiary of Samson Oil & Gas.
The first well, Dines CBM-1, has a target depth of 1,458m with the partners expecting the well to spud next week after signing a drilling contract with Grey Wolf Drilling Inc. It is targeting 24 metres of the shallow Fort Union and Lance age coals revealed by well logs from the Dines-2 deep gas well.
The partners said recent studies suggested up to 250 bcf of gas may be recoverable from the coal section in these leases with further significant upside in the surrounding joint venture area of mutual interest.
Sun managing director Brad Farrell said with the high US gas prices and two pipelines nearby, the partners hoped for a speedy commercialisation of any discovery.
The duration of the main drilling, sampling and completion program will be about 11 days.
Participants in Dines CBM -1 are the US operating subsidiaries of ASX-listed companies: Victoria Petroleum NL 40-45%, Sun Resources NL (permit operator) 40-45% and Samson Oil & Gas NL (well operator) 10-20%.
