Strike Energy Limited advises that the PEL 96 Joint Venture has suspended the Forge 1 well at 1,351 metres pending further evaluation.

Suspension of the well will enable the joint venture to recommence drilling at a later stage with different drilling equipment to further evaluate the Epsilon Formation coals (first objective) already cored and the deeper Patchawarra Formation coals (second objective) yet to be drilled.

Forge 1 has successfully cored a 15 metre thick coal seam in the first objective, the Epsilon Formation, between the depths of 1,311 and 1,326 metres. The well has been wireline logged and the integration of core data, wireline log interpretation and gas content analysis will take place over the next few months.

The results achieved to date are very promising for the CSG prospectivity of the PEL 96 permit area with a 15 metre coal seam successfully cored together with the recording of encouraging gas readings.

The PEL 96 Joint Venture intends to finalise the planning of the next stage of its Southern Cooper drilling programme after confirmation of the availability of a suitable drilling rig with the capacity and flexibility to drill the other identified targets in the permit area.

The Forge 1 well is the first of a two to four well programme in the Southern Cooper to target specifically coal seam gas potential. The prospective gas resource potential of the Permian age coal measures in PEL 96 is estimated at 3,700 to 9,300 petajoules, or approximately 3.7 to 9.3 trillion cubic feet.

The Forge 1 well is located 16 kilometres west of the open access Moomba to Adelaide gas pipeline which has spare capacity due to the declining production of natural gas from the Cooper Basin.

The interest holders in the PEL 96 Joint Venture are: Strike Energy Ltd (Operator) 66?% Australian Gasfields Ltd * 33?% * A wholly owned subsidiary of Energy World Corporation

Texas Drilling Update The Eaglewood Joint Venture expects to recommence its Texas drilling programme later this quarter.

Strike's Managing Director, Simon Ashton said, 'We are delighted with the results from the Forge 1 well which provide a strong indication of the prospective gas resource potential of the PEL 96 permit area. The suspension of the Forge 1 well allows the joint venture to evaluate further the Epsilon and deeper Patchawarra coal in this well. The design of a forward drilling programme is now underway.'

Tags: Strike Energy Limited