The energy arm of Australian battery metals firm Queensland Pacific Metals (QPM) has announced its certified reserves have increased more than a third on previous estimates at its Moranbah gas project (MGP) in Queensland state.
QPM Energy (QPME) reported a 38pc increase in its total proven and probable (2P) gas reserves to 331PJ (8.8bn m³) on 29 April compared with a March 2022 estimate of 240PJ, as it pivots towards its energy business and pauses spending on its proposed Townsville Energy Chemicals Hub (TECH) project.
QPME's waste coal mine gas reserves will be developed along with 300MW of new gas-fired power generation at the firm's Moranbah facilities located in the Bowen basin, a metallurgical and thermal coal producing region. The company is also planning to build compressed natural gas and micro-LNG facilities to distribute gas to northern Queensland customers.
The company will seek to increase its output by 25pc to 35 TJ/d (935,000 m³/d) by late 2024, up from October-December 2023's average of 28 TJ/d by drilling a further seven wells by the year's end. A rig has arrived on site for drilling the first well of its Teviot Brook South Well programme, QPM said on 24 April.
Australian independent Blue Energy, which is developing the Sapphire pilot project with 59PJ of 2P reserves near MGP, said QPM has confirmed it intends on taking gas Blue makes available to the MGP, in line with an existing non-binding agreement signed in June last year. Blue and QPME's parent company QPM also have a separate non-binding deal for supply of 7 PJ/yr of gas over 15 years to the TECH project.
