Galilee Energy Ltd. announced the addition of a 6th well to the 2022 drilling programme at the multi-well pilot. Glenaras 29 will be drilled in the centre of the existing lateral wells and will therefore receive the benefit of maximum interference and shielding in an area of maximum pressure depletion. Glenaras 26, the 5th well in the current programme, was also spudded over the weekend and is currently drilling ahead at 1,011 metres to TD of 1,050 metres.

This additional well has been made possible in large part by the R&D refund received recently and in particular the experience gained from successfully drilling adjacent to and through the fault in the southern part of the Pilot. While this well had been contemplated previously with the necessary long lead items having been ordered, the main challenge was and remains the risks associated with drilling it in an area of maximum pressure depletion. While still an inherent risk, the successful drilling track record of this year's programme in similarly challenging conditions, has provided the necessary confidence that the potential risk is worth the significant benefits which company believes will result from this additional well.

The primary benefit being the ability to decrease the time required to achieve critical desorption and in turn an indication of commercial gas rates. This has taken on increasing significance with the unforeseen delays to the current programme due to the various unseasonal rainfall events. These events have not only impacted the drilling schedule and all site works, but have also resulted in the existing Pilot wells, which needed to be suspended while drilling operations were conducted nearby, being shut in for extended periods.

The location of Glenaras 29 which will intersect the entire coal sequence, will see an expedited pressure reduction within the centre of the Pilot and will enable for much if not all of this lost time and reservoir performance to be addressed. If there is a benefit that has come from having the Pilot wells shut in, it is that the Company has been able to monitor reservoir pressure performance in the Betts Creek Beds over time, which has further confirmed the pre-drill expectation of exceptional reservoir quality and significant lateral continuity. In addition, it has become abundantly clear that the addition of a central vertical well, fully shielded in all directions, represents the most efficient means of collectively draining the entire Betts Creek Beds section and in turn accelerating de-pressurisation and gas desorption towards achieving commercial flow rates of gas.

As previously reported, the Galilee Basin has been specifically identified by the federal government as a strategic basin to unlock the vast gas resources in the region, with the aim of increasing the nation's east coast gas supply and applying downward pressure on gas prices. As such Galilee looks forward to working with both the State and Commonwealth governments to unlock this huge resource and bring it to market as quickly as possible.