Senex Gets Additional Acreage in Queensland

Sydney-listed Senex Energy has been awarded preferred tenderer status for natural gas acreage in the Surat and Bowen basins as part of the Queensland government’s domestic gas acreage tender process, it said on September 21.

The award includes additional Atlas acreage immediately adjacent to Senex’s existing development, and high-potential exploration acreage in the Bowen basin on trend with the Scotia and Meridian gas fields.

Senex said the new Atlas acreage would enable a rapid expansion of natural gas production to about 18 petajoules (PJ)/year, an increase of 50%. New Atlas acreage is development-ready, subject to project approvals, the company said. Some 16 PJ of 1P reserves, 41 PJ of 2P reserves and 58 PJ of 3P reserves will be booked by Senex as soon as the permits are granted.

The company has an agreement in place with Jemena to expand the Atlas gas processing facility by 50% to 48 TJ/day. Senex said the development drilling to expand production would be funded through free cashflow and existing debt facilities.

Senex CEO Ian Davies said that the company was positioned to contribute to Australia’s gas-fired recovery from the Covid-19 recession.

“The Queensland government’s award of acreage to Senex strengthens our ability to leverage our established hub-and-spoke infrastructure model for accelerated supply of affordable natural gas to the domestic market, Davis said. “Senex is committed to investing for the long-term to unlock both development-ready and exploration opportunities. We welcome the proactive policies in place to encourage development of Australia’s vast natural gas resources, which will help deliver affordable and sustainable gas supply.”