“To date five holes have been drilled to surface casing point, and casing set just above the production interval. One of these wells is now being drilled out to total depth while a sixth well has been spudded using the second rig,” said a company statement.

Arrow anticipated that the first three wells will be brought on to production in early April to begin the dewatering process with first sales gas from the field is expected in September this year.

It said construction of the gas and water gathering systems had begun with clearing of main trunk lines and pipe layout progressing satisfactorily.

The 30-35 well project is aiming to supply 4 PJ of gas per annum for 15 years to CS Energy’s Swanbank ‘E’ power plant, located near Ipswich in south east Queensland. Gas will be transported to Swanbank via the Roma to Brisbane Pipeline.