Queensland Awards More Acreage
The Queensland government has awarded more exploration acreage in the state in an effort to increase gas supply in the domestic market, especially to the manufacturing sector.
Mines minister Anthony Lynham May 28 told the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association conference in Brisbane that four companies have been awarded acreage to explore for gas for the Australian market only.
“Senex Energy has been awarded 153 km2 of land near Miles to explore for gas for Australian-supply only,” Lynham said. “This comes on top of Senex Energy’s Project Atlas near Wandoan, the first project to develop from our domestic-only policy initiative.”
Queensland has also awarded more than 2,600 km2 in total – divided between a joint venture of Santos and Shell and separately to Galilee Energy and to Sajawin – to explore for gas between Miles and the border town of Inglewood.
“Queensland’s been doing the heavy lifting on gas supply for several years now, and we’re keeping up the pace. We want to see more petajoules of Queensland gas in pipes, more jobs in Queensland, and our gas driving jobs in Australian manufacturing. While other states close their doors, Queensland continues to rise to the challenge to keep our manufacturers in business. In that vein, I also soon expect to be able to announce the outcome of a national first tender where that gas will be supplied exclusively to a manufacturer. This will mean more Queensland gas fuelling more Australian manufacturing jobs,” he said.
The state will also be continuing its campaign for more Federal investment in pipelines and other gas infrastructure to help get more gas to market to drive down prices.
A new round of bids has also been called to explore a further 3,700 km2 of land mainly near Springsure in central Queensland. More than a quarter of this land is only for domestic gas supply, Lynham said.