The Queensland Government has continued to drive national gas policy, awarding companies permission to explore energy rich land in the state.
Senex Energy has been awarded 153 square kilometres of land near Miles to explore for gas for Australian-supply only.
A Santos and Shell joint venture (JV), Galilee Energy and debutante Sajawin have also won the right to explore for gas across over 2600 square kilometres between Miles and the border town of Inglewood.
A new round of bids has also been called to explore a further 3700 square kilometres of land near Springsure in central Queensland, with more than a quarter of this land allowing for domestic gas supply.
Queensland already supplies around 25 per cent of the domestic east coast gas demand and the state government has released more than 39,000 square kilometres of land for gas exploration since 2015.
Mines minister Anthony Lynham said the granting of exploration to companies would allow for continued growth of domestic businesses.
“Queensland’s been doing the heavy lifting on gas supply for several years now, and we’re keeping up the pace, we want to see more petajoules of Queensland gas in pipes, more jobs in Queensland, and our gas driving jobs in Australian manufacturing,” he said.
“I also soon expect to be able to announce the outcome of a national first tender where that gas will be supplied exclusively to a manufacturer- this will mean more Queensland gas fuelling more Australian manufacturing jobs.”
The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) welcomed the increased exploration, with its chief executive officer Ian Macfarlane saying the move made economic sense.
“If demand for gas is strong you need to increase supply to put downward pressure on prices,” he said.
“This is an investment into regional Queensland, where all levels of governments and farmers support the gas industry, resulting in massive economic benefits for farmers and rural and regional communities.”