This article is from a special feature on the SRLUP.
IT’S green for go for coal seam gas (CSG) companies across NSW with the State Government ending an 18-month hiatus on exploration licence and production lease renewals on the same day it released its strategic regional land use policy.
First off the blocks is Metgasco, active in the Northern Rivers with petroleum exploration licences (PELs) 13 and 16 – the publicly listed company has been granted its first production lease, over a 1536 hectare area in the southern part of PEL 16.
It operates the Casino Gas and the Richmond Valley Power Station project, aiming for around 40 coal seam gas wells and a 30-megawatt power station.
Metgasco called a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) yesterday, pending an announcement, but chief executive Peter Henderson welcomed the go-ahead, saying the government “had thoroughly assessed the industry and given CSG the green light”.
“We expect that time will show that some of the new requirements are unnecessarily restrictive and that at approval processes are cumbersome, adding unnecessary costs to the industry,” he said.
The government’s policy sent a clear message NSW was open for business and CSG would play a key role, he said, adding that criticisms of the industry had proven to be unfounded.
The CSG industry says the government’s new policies will create developmental delays, add to the cost of doing business in NSW and add more bureaucratic hoops to jump through, but it has welcomed the chance to move forward.
NSW Resources Minister Chris Hartcher offered to renew 22 CSG petroleum exploration licences (PEls), comprising 21.3 per cent of NSW and many thousands of square kilometres from the Northern Rivers across to Gunnedah, the Hunter, the Sydney basin and the Illawarra.
Public company Santos, easily the biggest CSG operator in NSW, has been invited to renew PELs 238 near Narrabri, 427 near Moree, 433 near north of Dubbo, 434 near Coonamble, 456 near Scone, and 462 near Coonabarabran.
Santos vice president for eastern Australia James Baulderstone said renewal of PELs was critical to securing NSW energy needs.
“We need to review the detail, however the government’s announcements will enable us to progress our exploration program with the drilling of up to 50 wells over the next three years,” Mr Baulderstone said.
“We need to obtain additional data which can only be done through exploration to provide answers to questions and concerns about any localised impacts from individual projects.”
Santos has said it will spend $500 million over the next three years on CSG exploration.
Other PELs up for renewal include 470 at Bellata, part of a Planet Gas project comprising three PELs including 468 and 469, also up for renewal and comprising 5579 kilometres at Bellata, Shoalhaven and Bylong areas in the Sydney Basin, and the Mooki area of the Gunnedah Basin.
