This new rig has state of the art automated pipe handling and is sized to accommodate all of Eastern Star's proposed activities in the PEL 238 area of its Narrabri coal seam gas project in Northern NSW.

The rig will mainly be used for coal seam gas exploration and production wells in PEL 238, but may also be used for exploration in other areas being investigated.

Eastern Star managing director, David Casey, said "The agreement with McDermott Drilling ensures Eastern Star's drilling programmes can be executed in a timely, cost-effective manner despite the underlying east-coast shortage of equipment and manpower that has resulted from high levels of activity in the coal seam gas industry."