By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, June 1 -- Empire Energy Corp. International, Leawood, Kan., applied for coalbed methane and oil and gas exploration licenses in the Tasmania basin.
SEL 5/2009 covers 2.8 million acres, as the company's nearby Bellevue-1 well is expected to cut 65 ft of coal in several seams at 1,476-4,265 ft in Permian and Triassic sequences. Empire estimated that the coal may contain 1-2 cu m/sq m of methane.
SEL 4/2009 covers 3 million acres in the eastern Tasmania basin including Storm Bay. Empire proposed a 348-mile land seismic program and a 1,242-mile offshore seismic shoot in Tasmanian and Australian waters.
An Empire predecessor shot seismic and drilled a 5,745-ft stratigraphic well on Bruny Island in south Tasmania in 1995-96 that flowed wet methane that contained 4.8% helium.
