Visy’s Smithfield facility is an impressive plant that plays an important role in the recycling of paper and cardboard in Sydney.
Every day, hundreds of tonnes of paper from households and businesses arrive at the Western Sydney facility, where natural gas-fired boilers create the necessary steam to process 760,000 tonnes of recycled paper and cardboard annually.
Gas is critical in this process as the boilers reach temperatures that electricity cannot efficiently achieve.
The facility uses approximately 1 per cent of all gas consumed in the state.
Across NSW, industry accounts for 40 per cent of the state’s total gas use, including for manufacturing a wide range of products and materials essential to our everyday lives, such as glass, plastics, bricks, processed foods and fertilisers.
The Smithfield recycling facility recently hosted NSW Minister for Natural Resources and Domestic Manufacturing, Courtney Houssos, to announce that the government is opening new areas for gas exploration in the state’s west to secure local energy supply.
This has the potential to produce gas to support local manufacturing, which employs a quarter of a million people in NSW, for electricity generation and for households and businesses.
It is the first time that new exploration licences for petroleum will be offered in NSW since 2014.
In releasing the Bancannia and Pondie Range Troughs for exploration, the NSW government is taking the first crucial step to secure a reliable, domestic supply of gas for the state’s industry and homes.
With more than 1.5 million gas connections across the state, bringing on new supply is the most effective way to ease pressure on prices and ensure reliable, affordable energy for households and businesses.
The Bancannia Trough (229 blocks) is located 29 kilometres east of Broken Hill, primarily extending from the southeast to the northwest, while the Pondie Range Trough (79 blocks) is located four kilometres west of Wilcannia, extending to the north and west.
They collectively cover an area of 22,329 square kilometres.
The NSW government is also reducing the gas exploration licence application fee from $50,000 to $1,000, a practical step to encourage new exploration activity and support the development of additional supply.
The gas industry stands ready to work with the NSW government to bring new supply online and deliver affordable, reliable and cleaner energy for households and businesses.
The competitive selection process opened on 1 May and closes on 31 July, with information on release areas and guidelines available at resources.nsw.gov.au/eoi-exploration.
