Another good and timely announcement.
The experts may have views, however, it's likely that near-term announcements will confirm spudding of the horizontal well, reaching the target seam and then intersecting the vertical.
The vertical + pressure coring appears to have gone very well - another step in building confidence around the increased execution capability within the team plus contractors. The next month is going to be very pivotal. While horizontals have been done numerous times before in the US (primarily shale), there is a lot of first time around this in the Cooper Basin coals and naturally there are unknowns and risks.
After the last few years, it's actually hard to believe that we are funded into what could be a breakthrough drilling/fraccing event. While the share price has barely moved, we all know how close we are getting to a potentially very exciting outcome. If and it remains a big if, we can get through the next month and successfully complete the drilling I will be very surprised if momentum in the value of STX does not start to move appreciably. This is even before the fracc and complete. I expect there are numerous people, with a big question mark on whether horizontal drilling in coals at this depth and various stresses etc can work.
A successful drill/complete could be the pivotal event that brings the optionality of this play so much closer. I'm sure there will be new challenges to navigate in the dewatering and early gas flow stages but all this remains hypothetical until the drilling is successfully completed. Another article in The Australian today about gas prices confirmed the opportunity is not going anywhere.
In the short-term its a case of patiently waiting and hoping the STX/Halliburton team can successfully complete the horizontal. Then maybe, just maybe, its game on!
Cheers
Adaltiora
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