State Gas Gets New Queensland Acreage
Australian gas explorer State Gas has been appointed preferred tenderer of a new acreage, PLR2020-1-5 (Block 5/ Rolleston-West project), in the latest Queensland government petroleum land release, it said on September 23.
Block 5 surrounds the northern part of the company’s existing 100%-owned PL231, where it is developing the Reid’s Dome gas project. “Being contiguous to PL231, Block 5 covers 1,414 km2, an area eight times larger than PL231. The Rolleston-West project contains highly prospective targets for both coal seam gas and known conventional gas within the permit area,” State Gas said.
The Rolleston-West project is not constrained by domestic market supply requirements, the company said, and gas from the block can be sold to any customer. The gas from Rolleston-West and Reid’s Dome will be exported through a single pipeline. State Gas is considering two routes for this pipeline.
The company said it will start preparing to obtain environmental and other approvals for PLR2020-1-5. “Native Title has been extinguished over the vast majority of Rolleston-West, enabling the company to move quickly to grant of the authority to prospect, and subsequently commence works,” it said.
State Gas executive chairman Richard Cottee said that the award of Block 5 was a ‘company- maker’. “The new acreage has the potential to quadruple the company’s resource position, and the increase in scale will enable efficiencies and optionality in operations, management and marketing.”
Cottee said the company had already received expressions of interest from potential customers, with two major industrial gas consumers formally supporting the company’s bid for the area.