In its core asset area in Queensland’s Surat-Bowen Basins, Mosaic now has a dominant acreage position covering the Permo-Triassic oil and gas trend within the depth range from 1,900 to 2,700 metres.
Mosaic is well placed to maximise a growing gas market in Queensland and Eastern Australia, and, with its existing infrastructure, the Company is strategically positioned to deliver much needed reserves to the domestic market.
The company’s own research indicates the gas market will change radically in the near future. Mosaic has the largest parcel of conventional gas in Queensland outside the longer established players - Santos and Origin Energy.
Our Queensland acreage consists of various large sub-blocks of Authority to Prospect 471P and 709P and a variety of production licences that also hold exploration potential. The area involved is over 2,000 sq km (500,000 acres) and runs from near the town of Surat to the Silver Springs area, 60 km to the south.
Mosaic wholly owns the Silver Springs, Taylor, Tinker and Fairymount fields. These are declining gas or oil fields discovered in the 1970s and 1980s, however with some remaining potential for further drilling. Production comes from Triassic sandstones.
The newly established production is derived from an emerging gas and oil province discovered by Mosaic in the deeper and older, Permian sandstones. This production is obtained from the small Downlands/Spring Grove gas and oil fields (Mosaic 53.5 to 62.7%), the large Churchie gas-condensate field (Mosaic 49%, Santos 51%) and the Waggamba gas-condensate and oil field (Mosaic 100%). Mosaic also holds interests ranging from 62.7% to 100% in a number of large exploration blocks adjoining these fields and covering this prospective Permian sandstone trend, including ATP709P, ATP471P - Rocky Creek East Block, ATP471P - the Dalkeith Block, and ATP471P - the Bainbilla and Myall Blocks. Mosaic is the Operator of these various exploration blocks and Production Licences.
A revolutionary change in drilling technique introduced into Australia by Mosaic in order to successfully exploit the Permian reservoirs has meant that reservoir rocks that previously flowed gas at 1-2 million cubic feet or less a day from conventionally drilled wells have now flowed at rates up to 20 million cubic feet a day from wells drilled under-balanced. These wells are drilled with normal water-based drilling mud to just above the target zone and cased, following which the target zone is drilled with nitrogen gas.
Treatment Plants: a replacement value in excess of $30 million
Mosaic's purchase of Queensland processing and pipeline infrastructure in 2000, which had surplus capacity, now provides a base for Mosaic's development of the newly discovered Permian gas fields.
The Roma area has three gas treatment plants, of which the largest is owned by Mosaic. These are situated at Silver Springs (Mosaic), Kincora (Origin) and Roma (Santos). These plants dehydrate gas and compress gas to main trunklines.
At Silver Springs Mosaic's wholly owned plant separates water and oil from the gas. The plant can treat up to 40 million cubic feet of gas a day, store over 10,000 barrels of oil, and compress gas to send it along the 120 km pipeline to Wallumbilla.
The 120 km eight inch diameter pipeline from Silver Springs to Wallumbilla is owned by Mosaic and Santos (50:50). Wallumbilla is the gas hub for Queensland and is the meeting point for pipelines from Moomba to the west, Gladstone to the north and Brisbane to the east.
The Mosaic/Santos LPG plant at Wallumbilla is one of two LPG plants in the region. This plant can treat up to 40 million cubic feet/day (or 40 TJ per day). The state-of-the-art plant cools the wet gas to low temperatures in order to remove condensate, butane and propane (LPG). The LPG is trucked from the site and sold to Elgas.
The plant would have a replacement value of over $30 million.