The Queensland government has opened-up a stretch of the Surat Basin gasfields, with all gas produced to be supplied to manufacturers.
State energy minister Anthony Lynham announced on Thursday that tenders were open for an 18-square-kilometre block of the gasfields, located 22 km south west of Chinchilla.
Conditions have been attached that any gas produced must be sold to Australian manufacturers.
Lynham said that manufacturers had been particularly affected by Australia’s domestic gas shortage, and had been crying out for a stable and reliable gas supply.
“Once again, Queensland is doing the heavy lifting on gas policy stepping up to provide a boost to our manufacturing industry by supplying gas they need,” Lynham said.
“We continue to deliver on our election commitments to unlock gas land to ensure supply to our manufacturers, as creators of jobs and business opportunities for thousands of Queenslanders.”
State development, manufacturing and infrastructure minister, Cameron Dick, said that the government was committed to working with the gas industry to deliver a sustainable solution that continues to facilitate both of the development of Queensland’s gas resources and manufacturing sector.
“There are a number of manufacturing industries in Queensland for whom gas is a key input and access to a reliable supply of affordably priced gas is critical to the ongoing viability of those industries,” Dick said.
The Queensland government announced Australia’s first release of gas land to supply the domestic market in February 2017.
Since then, almost another 25 000 km2 has been released for in Queensland for gas exploration, almost a third of it for the domestic market only.
Last month, Senex announced go-ahead for its Project Atlas in the Surat Basin on the first 58 km2 release of land the Queensland Government granted for domestic-only gas production in March 2018.
“Queensland continues to do lead the nation on gas and again, I’m imploring other states to follow our lead – doing so will secure industry and jobs, and not just in Queensland,” Lyndham said.