QGC signed a gas supply agreement with CS Energy late last year, and the FEED study was one of the conditional milestones in the agreement.

The five-well pilot project at Berwyndale South has produced promising results and is currently producing high rates of gas-cut water.

Gas breakthrough is expected in the first quarter of 2003 after the installation of new high-capacity pumps in early February.

The company said these high capacity pumps had now arrived in Australia and were capable of pumping 600,000 litres per day per well (3750 bwpd).

QGC said it plans to launch a program to accelerate the reserves certification process, drilling a further four wells at Berwyndale South in March.

The new wells should increase the level of reserves to be certified while providing an opportunity to test different well designs which will identify the most efficient and economical well designs for the proposed development of the gas field, the company said.

"QGC is committed to ensuring that the milestones outlined in the CS Energy agreement are satisfied as early as possible. The front end engineering represents the first step in satisfying those milestones, the achievement of which will complete the transformation of QGC from an explorer to a producer", said Richard Cottee, Managing Director of QGC.