Queensland to Auction of Gas, Oil Resources

Queensland is likely to opt for auction process to allot gas and oil blocks to firms interested in exploiting the resources.

State's Resources Minister Andrew Cripps told a national coal seam gas conference in Brisbane, the government would then select a preferred party which would then have use of those reserves, the Queensland Times reported.

The condition will apply to those reserves considered to be particularly lucrative, while riskier exploration areas would be exempt, the report said.

"Companies in the process of putting forward an (exploration request) will simply address an additional criteria which includes the cash bid," Cripps said, the newspaper reported.

The first of these petrol and gas areas would be released for tender in the near future. Cripps said the deal would not give any easing of environmental requirements, but was aimed at stopping the trend of companies securing lucrative resource areas then on-selling them.