Projects >> Mosnov

Mošnov, 90% interest (contributing 100%)

The Mošnov permit located near the Ostrava airport was granted in March 2003 and was renewed in March 2004. The project area lies close to the northern edge of the Carpathian flysch belt, an area where Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Palaeozoic) is overlain by only 400-500 metres of Tertiary.

While it had been long recognised that the coals could source reservoirs of Tertiary age it was thought that any targets in the area would be too small to be economic. However, a thorough review of the permit in March 2006 identified an attractive drilling target at around 400 metres in Tertiary sandstones and sands within the Carboniferous section immediately below. The prospect is based on intersections in a network of some 28 coal exploration holes, 0.5 – 1 kilometres apart. It lies between the depleted Kremlin gas field to the north and the Priobor-Klokocov Field to the south which it is reported produced 23 billion cubic feet of gas between 1945 and 1984 at rates of up to 5 million cubic feet per day.

The proposed location is close to an updip of a coal exploration hole from which a gas flow of 80,000 cubic metres (approximately 2.8 million cubic feet per day) was recorded in 1961, some two years after it had been drilled. While this open flow rate would not be sustainable, an economic analysis presented with the review indicates that given the strong gas price and the proximity of the gas transmission network, sustainable rates of as little as 10% of this figure could be economically attractive.

At the end of June 2006 preparations to drill Mo-1 Skotnice well on the permit were moving ahead. A number of bids have been received from drilling contractors and one will be selected early in the next quarter. The intention is to drill the well in the early part of the fourth quarter 2006, but this remains subject to confirmation from the contractor, finalisation of the land access and the construction of the drilling pad.