LONDON (Alliance News) - Altona Energy PLC on Tuesday said it has submitted an application to obtain a petroleum exploration licence in order to begin test drilling at the Arckaringa joint venture project in southern Australia.
Altona is working with Sino-Aus Energy Group Ltd and Wintask Group Ltd on the project, made up of three licenses that will be targeted for coal using a method known as underground coal gasification, an industrial process that converts the commodity into product gas.
Although the joint venture already had exploration licenses for all three licenses at Arckaringa, authorities informed the partners that they would need a petroleum exploration licence because they are searching for a type of hydrocarbon, which requires a higher level of regulation.
However, the existing three licenses partly overlap neighbouring tenements owned by a separate company named Linc Energy Ltd, which is currently in administration. Authorities previously notified Altona that it may have to acquire the PEL application 604 lodged by Linc before it can begin drill testing.
Altona had warned that it may take some time to process because of the situation at Linc, but on Tuesday said it has now lodged an application for a petroleum exploration license for the area covered by the PEL application 604.
Altona said it can offer no assurances about the outcome of the application but said it remains confident that it can progress toward starting underground coal gasification test drilling in the future.
Previously, with the expectation that the applications may take some time to be processed, Altona said it had agreed with its two partners to delay the formal signing of the joint venture agreement tying them all together, allowing them to amend terms and hold discussions to incorporate changes with the project and its schedule.
Altona shares were up 6.7% to 0.400 pence per share on Tuesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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