A second hole in a test drilling programme by dual listed L&M Petroleum for coal seam gas within onshore western Southland basin permits will be kept open for long-term flow testing in the future.
In mid-May, L&M reported its Bogle-1 test well, near Waiau and next to the Ohai coalfield, reached its programmed depth of 561m with about 5m of coal intersected, and "encouraging results" indicating the presence of coal seam gas.
L&M has more than $8 million cash in hand for an up to seven-hole test drilling programme in the South this year, exploring for both oil and coal seam gas.
L&M managing director John Bay said drilling at its Mt Linton-2 well near Waiau reached a depth of 474m, encountering about 8m of Beaumont formation coals in the well.
The core samples were sent to Christchurch for full laboratory analysis.
"Cores recovered from the well showed evidence of high gas content," Mr Bay said in a statement.
The Mt Linton-2 wellbore work had been suspended to allow installation of equipment to do long-term flow testing, which could establish the permeability and flow characteristics of the Beaumont coals, Mr Bay said.
L&M's drilling programme is targeting an estimated 300 petajoules of the coal-seam gas resource within permits in Southland and Westland.
