Here is an article for all to read to realize the
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Posted On: 08/03/2013 6:31:33 PM
Here is an article for all to read to realize the importance of EEGC and the license area that is being sought by others. Now why is that???? Please enjoy the article: Cheers!!
ADELAIDE | South Australia’s much-touted “hot rocks” renewable energy company Petratherm continues its shift away from the new to the old, seeking a shale oil and gas exploration licence.
The company has applied for a licence to explore for shale oil and gas.
It follows the scaling back last month of Petratherm’s “hot rocks” concept at Paralana in the northern Flinders Ranges.
Petratherm has been trying for nine years to find a way to use the heat from sub-surface rocks to heat water and generate electicity.
In that time its shares have reached the dizzying heights of $1.30, down to 10 cents two years ago and just two cents yesterday.
Now it has applied for a Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) in Tasmania, covering approximately 3,900 square kilometres, north of Hobart.
“This decision by Petratherm to extend into unconventional shale oil and gas exploration leverages our core areas of expertise that include basin geology and deep drilling and our knowledge of the Australian electricity and gas markets,” the company said in a statement to the stock exchange .
Petratherm is bidding for the licence through a subsidiary, PetraGas Pty Ltd.
The tenement application spans part of the petroleum-bearing Tasmania Basin, which is prospective for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas.
The Company’s initial geological assessment indicates shale oil and gas are the most prospective targets with the primary areas of interest located 50 km north of Hobart.
The license straddles the Tasmanian Gas Pipeline which runs between Hobart and eastern mainland Victoria, allowing potential access to major gas markets.
InDaily reported last month Petratherm’s grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ( ARENA ) had been wound back.
A $7 million grant had been terminated and a $62 million grant reduced to $24 million as the company reduced its demonstration plant target from 30MW to 7MW.
Petratherm and its project partner Beach Energy said they have renegotiated with ARENA two existing grants as follows: “The $7 million Geothermal Drilling Program grant has been terminated, with remaining balance of $2.8 million being relinquished”, and; “The $62.8 million Renewable Energy Demonstration Program grant for a 30 MW project has been varied to $24.5 million for a reduced 7 MW project.
“The changes to the existing grants have been implemented to ensure no crossover between the grants/programs and to reflect the latest information on the projects’ costs, in particular sub-surface costs,” the company said.
“That work will involve the drilling and stimulation of the Paralana 3 well – a producer well into the hot rock reservoir created around the existing Paralana 2 well, as part of an applied research project into the site’s commercial potential,” Petratherm said in its announcement of the grant.
Geothermal technology is South Australia is still in its concept stage, Petratherm’s managing director Terry Kailis has previously said.
“The technology is still in its concept stage and we’re trying to make it work,” he told Sky Business News.
“What we’re doing here is to open up geothermal energy and market it worldwide.”
Internationally, geothermal energy is a low cost conventional energy based around active volcanic regions.
Australia has no active volcanic sources so systems being tested are Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS).
These projects require deeper drilling to source high enough rock temperatures and require engineering techniques to allow the circulation of water through the hot rock to extract the heat.
Patratherm’s exploration manager Peter Reid said last year in an interview with ecogeneration .com.au that EGS projects are “a higher risk to develop and have a higher cost than conventional geothermal systems due to the increased engineering involved.
“EGS are, however, very large. They could theoretically provide for all of Australia’s energy needs thousands of times over, and they have potential in many areas of Australia where new power generation is required.”
ADELAIDE | South Australia’s much-touted “hot rocks” renewable energy company Petratherm continues its shift away from the new to the old, seeking a shale oil and gas exploration licence.
The company has applied for a licence to explore for shale oil and gas.
It follows the scaling back last month of Petratherm’s “hot rocks” concept at Paralana in the northern Flinders Ranges.
Petratherm has been trying for nine years to find a way to use the heat from sub-surface rocks to heat water and generate electicity.
In that time its shares have reached the dizzying heights of $1.30, down to 10 cents two years ago and just two cents yesterday.
Now it has applied for a Petroleum Exploration Licence (PEL) in Tasmania, covering approximately 3,900 square kilometres, north of Hobart.
“This decision by Petratherm to extend into unconventional shale oil and gas exploration leverages our core areas of expertise that include basin geology and deep drilling and our knowledge of the Australian electricity and gas markets,” the company said in a statement to the stock exchange .
Petratherm is bidding for the licence through a subsidiary, PetraGas Pty Ltd.
The tenement application spans part of the petroleum-bearing Tasmania Basin, which is prospective for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas.
The Company’s initial geological assessment indicates shale oil and gas are the most prospective targets with the primary areas of interest located 50 km north of Hobart.
The license straddles the Tasmanian Gas Pipeline which runs between Hobart and eastern mainland Victoria, allowing potential access to major gas markets.
InDaily reported last month Petratherm’s grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency ( ARENA ) had been wound back.
A $7 million grant had been terminated and a $62 million grant reduced to $24 million as the company reduced its demonstration plant target from 30MW to 7MW.
Petratherm and its project partner Beach Energy said they have renegotiated with ARENA two existing grants as follows: “The $7 million Geothermal Drilling Program grant has been terminated, with remaining balance of $2.8 million being relinquished”, and; “The $62.8 million Renewable Energy Demonstration Program grant for a 30 MW project has been varied to $24.5 million for a reduced 7 MW project.
“The changes to the existing grants have been implemented to ensure no crossover between the grants/programs and to reflect the latest information on the projects’ costs, in particular sub-surface costs,” the company said.
“That work will involve the drilling and stimulation of the Paralana 3 well – a producer well into the hot rock reservoir created around the existing Paralana 2 well, as part of an applied research project into the site’s commercial potential,” Petratherm said in its announcement of the grant.
Geothermal technology is South Australia is still in its concept stage, Petratherm’s managing director Terry Kailis has previously said.
“The technology is still in its concept stage and we’re trying to make it work,” he told Sky Business News.
“What we’re doing here is to open up geothermal energy and market it worldwide.”
Internationally, geothermal energy is a low cost conventional energy based around active volcanic regions.
Australia has no active volcanic sources so systems being tested are Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS).
These projects require deeper drilling to source high enough rock temperatures and require engineering techniques to allow the circulation of water through the hot rock to extract the heat.
Patratherm’s exploration manager Peter Reid said last year in an interview with ecogeneration .com.au that EGS projects are “a higher risk to develop and have a higher cost than conventional geothermal systems due to the increased engineering involved.
“EGS are, however, very large. They could theoretically provide for all of Australia’s energy needs thousands of times over, and they have potential in many areas of Australia where new power generation is required.”
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