
The Queensland Government has officially approved a new project in the Surat Basin which will see more gas made available for the domestic market.
Last month Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, the Hon. Dr Anthony Lynham announced that a joint venture between Santos and Shell had won the right to explore for gas in the Surat Basin which will exclusively be set aside for domestic use.
After strict environmental, financial and land access requirements were in order, the Department today granted the joint venture the Authority to Prospect.
“The ATP will allow the Santos and Shell joint venture to undertake exploration activities and ascertain how much gas exists,” Dr Lynham announced this morning.
“If they choose to move to the production phase, they do it on the understanding that any gas produced must stay in Australia,” he said.
The 393 square kilometre parcel of land (located 19-kilometres east of Surat in the Surat Basin) was released for competitive tender in early 2018 as part of Queensland’s nation-leading land release strategy.
Dr Lynham announced Australia’s first release of gas land to supply the domestic market in February 2017. Since then, almost 25,000 square kilometres have been released in Queensland for gas exploration, almost a third of it for the domestic market only. The latest block to go to tender was 22 kilometres south-west of Chinchilla.