Executive summary
The coal and coal seam gas resource assessment for the Cooper subregion summarises the known coal and coal seam gas resources and developments as at June 2015.
The information found in this product was used to develop the coal resource development pathway for the subregion.
Coal and coal seam gas resources
Coal occurs in both the Cooper Basin and the overlying Eromanga Basin, the primary geological basins of the Cooper subregion. However mining is not economically viable as the depth to major coal seams is greater than 1000 metres. The Cooper-Eromanga Basin system is the largest hydrocarbon-producing onshore basin in Australia. Conventional oil and gas have been produced from fields in the Cooper Basin since the 1960s.
Coal seam gas production does not occur as a stand-alone operation in the Cooper subregion. However, exploration for coal seam gas has occurred in the southern margin of the subregion since 2010.
Current activity and tenements
As at June 2015 there were no coal mines or coal seam gas production operations in the Cooper subregion.
Proposals and exploration
As at June 2015 there were no proposals for the development of coal mines within the subregion. There is one coal seam gas resource reported in the subregion with Strike Energy Limited assessing the viability of full-scale production of its Southern Cooper Basin Gas Project.
As at June 2015 Strike Energy and Australian Gasfields Limited were evaluating the gas resource in deep coal seams of the geological Cooper Basin, about 100 kilometres south of Moomba, South Australia.
Other coal seam gas fields under exploration in the subregion are part of composite gas fields, including deep coal seam gas targets on the western margin of the northern Patchawarra Trough.
