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- Comet Ridge (COI) completes the acquisition of Australia Pacific LNG’s (APLNG) 30 per cent interest in the Mahalo gas project in Queensland
- This increases the company’s net interest to 70 per cent which Comet Ridge paid the remaining $11 million of the total $12 million upfront consideration to APLNG which was funded via a $13.15 million loan from Santos
- Managing Director Tor McCaul says the project is a key opportunity to bring an additional source of gas to the Queensland market especially in a crucial time
- The acquisition will result in an substantial increase in Comet’s gas reserves, recording a 80 petajoules (PJ) increase in 2P reserves and 138 PJ increase in 3P reserves
- Shares in Comet Ridge are down 2.94 per cent, trading at 16.5 cents as of 3:17 pm AEST
Comet Ridge (COI) has completed the acquisition of Australia Pacific LNG’s (APLNG) 30 per cent interest in the Mahalo gas project in Queensland.
This increases the company’s net interest from 40 per cent to 70 per cent.
The company paid the remaining $11 million of the total $12 million upfront consideration to APLNG which was funded via a $13.15 million loan from Santos.
Santos is the remaining Mahalo joint venture (JV) participant which holds a 30 per cent interest and has a six-month option from settlement date to acquire an additional 12.86 per cent interest in Mahalo from the company.
If Santos exercises this option, Comet Ridge’s interest in Mahalo will drop to 57.14 per cent and the loan repayable to Santos will decrease to eight million dollars.
If it elects to exercise the option, Santos’ interest in Mahalo will increase from 30 per cent to 42.86 per cent.
Managing Director Tor McCaul said the project is a key opportunity to bring an additional source of gas to the Queensland market especially in a crucial time.
“We note very strong interest from gas users for our equity share of Mahalo gas and we can now look to the future with Santos to take Mahalo through development and move into producing reliable, competitive gas into a tight east coast market.
“For our shareholders, we now have access to a substantially increased gas reserve base, and a simpler, aligned JV, which creates the opportunity for us to move Mahalo forward into production.”
The acquisition will result in an substantial increase in Comet’s gas reserves, recording a 80 petajoules (PJ) increase in 2P reserves to 186 PJ and 138 PJ increase in 3P reserves to 321 PJ.
Additionally, it will also create a streamlined JV between Comet Ridge and Santos with a common focus on finalising development plans for Mahalo and the broader expanded Mahalo Gas Hub to achieve significant scale.
Shares in Comet Ridge were down 2.94 per cent, trading at 16.5 cents as of 3:17 pm AEST.
