The equipment, a specialised coil tubing service rig, has been proven in active international markets and was re-engineered in a strategic partnership between AusCoil and local Toowoomba company FKG Group to specifically suit Australian industry conditions.

The equipment will perform a variety of production enhancement operations on CSG wells throughout their life, reducing field operations costs, supporting continuous production and achieving operator capital efficiency.

FKG Group executive chairman Gary Gardner said the new technology represented a “significant advancement” on existing technologies available to the Australian market.

“The FKG Group identified the increasing need for CSG operators to source new ways to lower operating costs, increase productivity and improve efficiency,” Gardner said.

“AusCoil’s rig has been designed in collaboration with industry experts as a fit-for-purpose innovation to address these factors.”

AusCoil development manager Tyson Affleck said the company’s coil tubing services offered CSG operators a means of increasing the safety and pace of their operations.

“The equipment allows us to deploy highly innovative tools and technology into CSG wells at a much greater speed than currently possible. We can also offer operators experiencing production problems with their wells a wide range of cost-effective and safer solutions,” Affleck said.

“Our goal is to make each CSG well produce to its full potential.”

Components of the rigs were sourced from Australia, Canada and the United States, with the final assembly being completed locally in Toowoomba.

Affleck said the equipment, which is fully compliant to Australian transportation and petroleum industry standards, is highly-mobile, with the ability to move from well-to-well most days.

He said the FKG Group’s “ambitious plan” to develop a productivity-optimising solution for oil and gas operators had been two years in the making, and its investment in the coil tubing technology demonstrated the company’s confidence in the Australian oil and gas industry.

“Significant research and development has gone into the AusCoil venture,” Affleck said.

“It is this and the investment we have made in our equipment, technology and people, which shows that we are in this for the long run.”

The rig is set to be deployed to the Surat Basin for a CSG operator later this month.