Comet Ridge has completed its purchase of Santos' 42.86% interest in the Mahalo Gas Project, taking full ownership and operatorship of the entire Mahalo Gas Hub in Queensland. The transaction closes out an agreement first announced in December 2025 and amended in May 2026, now that all remaining conditions have been satisfied.
The terms
Comet Ridge paid Santos $24.42 million in cash and issued 83.78 million of its own shares as up-front consideration. The share portion was priced against the 10-day volume weighted average price of Comet Ridge stock ahead of settlement, as set out in the original December 2025 agreement. The final cash figure reflects adjustments for past costs, license fees, interest and other items agreed under the December 2025 and May 2026 agreements. A further $30 million in contingent payments is due to Santos in three equal tranches, triggered as the Mahalo Gas Project reaches 10 PJ, 20 PJ and 30 PJ of cumulative sales gas. That structure defers the remaining consideration until the project is in production and generating cash.
Full control of the hub
With Santos' stake retired, Comet Ridge now holds 100% ownership and operatorship of the whole Mahalo Gas Hub: the Mahalo Gas Project, Mahalo North, Mahalo East, Mahalo Far East and Mahalo Far East Extension permits, covering about 1,850 square kilometers. The hub carries 361 PJ of 2P reserves and 676 PJ of combined 2P reserves and 2C contingent resources. 2P reserves are the proved and probable gas volumes considered commercially recoverable; 2C contingent resources are additional gas not yet sanctioned for development.
What sole ownership changes
Comet Ridge said the joint-venture structure had previously been a constraint on funding and offtake discussions. Full ownership gives the company control over development timing, sequencing and capital allocation as it works toward a final investment decision. Comet Ridge is now reworking the project's economics on the basis of 100% ownership, combined with its adjacent acreage.
The operator's read
Managing Director Tor McCaul said the deal puts Comet Ridge in control of "one of the few development-ready gas positions on the east coast." He said reservation-policy uncertainty has weighed on sentiment across east coast gas markets, but that the underlying fundamentals have not changed: east coast gas supply is expected to tighten from later this decade, and Mahalo sits in Queensland, within reach of both the domestic market and the Gladstone LNG precinct. McCaul also pointed to a Pipeline License recently awarded to Jemena, connecting Mahalo into existing network infrastructure, and said having options over where the gas can go is worth more, not less, in an uncertain policy environment.
