PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy has granted a petroleum production licence to a joint venture (JV) between Australian Pacific Liquefied Natural Gas (APLNG) and ASX-listed Armour Energy.

The petroleum production licence covers an 18 km² coal seam gas exploration tenure adjoining APLNG’s Talinga project.

As part of the JV agreement, APLNG will operate the tenure, while both parties will be able to independently market their proportion of produced gas directly to local manufacturing firms.

The production licence was granted with the specific condition that the gas produced would be sold exclusively to local manufacturing, and would see the JV partners develop up to 103 PJ of gas over a 30-year period.

Armour Energy on Wednesday said that first gas from the block is expected in 2021.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the collaborative approach to the supply of domestic gas; however, CEO Ian Macfarlane has warned that Queensland’s momentum as the most reliable East Coast gas producer could be eroded without continued planning and investment for new gas projects.

“At the moment, Queensland can rightly claim the title as the heavy lifter in the East Coast gas market. We are the only East Coast state where the gas industry has been developed in recent years and jobs created, and it has been done within a robust environmental and approvals framework.

“We can see the benefit of that forward thinking through the investment and jobs in the gas industry which will now translate to support for investment and jobs in Australian manufacturing,” Macfarlane said.

“Queensland has the resources to continue to lead the pack on gas project investment, jobs, and support for other industries. But Queensland can’t afford to rest on its laurels.

“The projects and jobs which are now a reality are the result of careful planning to attract investment. We must have the investment framework in place to give confidence to the next round of projects,” he said.