PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Santos and junior Denison Gas will start exploring for new gas resources in Queensland.
Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham said Santos would seek new gas between Chinchilla and Roma and Denison Gas would start exploring for gas near Emerald.
“This is about unlocking more gas for local manufacturing, industrial users, and securing Aussie jobs.
“Santos will explore across more than 2 000 km2 of highly prospective areas in Queensland’s world class Surat and Bowen Basins. Nearly half of this land can only produce gas for the domestic market.
“Santos is a proven gas explorer and producer and has been pumping gas in Queensland for the past 50 years. They will be able to use their existing gas infrastructure and plug straight in and get gas to market faster,” Lynham said.
Denison Gas will explore for gas to supply to Australian-only users from 568 km2 of land south-east of Emerald in the Bowen basin.
“This means gas explorers are working more than 7 000 km2 of land in Queensland for gas for the Australian market,” Lynham said.
The latest tenures come on the back of more than 6 700 km2 of land being opened to tender for gas exploration between Blackwater and Goondiwindi last week.
The new land release is part of the state government’s multimillion-dollar package to support the survival of the exploration sector in the region through rent and fee waivers, to help maintain the state’s pipeline of resources projects and jobs.