Fresh off a flurry of lithium activity Mineral Resources is shifting gears to gas, touting the latest find from its Lockyer-5 development east of Dongara in the Mid West.
MinRes told the market on Tuesday that analysis of wireline logs at the Lockyer-5 gas project delivered “exceptional results”, including 27m of net gas pay with porosity of 18 per cent.
The Chris Ellison-led business said the result is the “highest quality reservoir encountered in all wells” that have intersected the Kingia Sandstone, which has hosted a hotbed of gas exploration in the onshore Perth Basin.
MinRes is set to conduct a well test early next month to evaluate gas flow rates and composition at Lockyer-5.
Lockyer-5 is set to underpin an eponymous $850 million gas export plant.
In January the State’s Special Development Assessment Unit decided to review MinRes’ plan for the Lockyer plant but the project’s future is still in the balance.
The State Government is yet to decide on potential changes to the rules requiring onshore gas to be retained entirely for local use.
MinRes wants to build a plant in the Shire of Irwin to process gas from the Lockyer field with capacity of about 250 terajoules per day.
But the company has warned the project’s viability is dependent on approval to export some of the gas, with a much smaller-scale alternative plant of just 30tj/d proposed if the onshore gas ban is not lifted.
Production is targeted by late 2025 but the project is yet to reach final investment decision. The plant will also need environmental approval.