The Queensland Government has given Comet Ridge the green light for a new Bowen Basin project, allowing the company to begin exploration for new sources of gas.
The state’s Resources Minister Scott Stewart said the company has been granted an authority to prospect (ATP) over a 338 square kilometre parcel of land located in the gas rich Bowen Basin.
The new ATP will allow Comet to begin exploration for new sources of gas while utilising its existing gas infrastructure in the region to plug straight in and get gas to market faster.
Managing director Tor McCaul said the Mahalo Far East block contains a very large gas in place volume and is an important upside addition to the Mahalo Hub area.
“Combining these blocks and sharing one large development for the whole Mahalo Hub area will provide greater efficiency and scale economy, as well as a material injection of gas into the east coast market, at a critical time,” McCaul said.
“Importantly, a proportion of this Mahlo Hub gas is earmarked for the domestic market.”
In the past 12 months the Palaszczuk Government has approved 10 new ATP – half of which have a domestic gas condition which requires any gas that’s found to stay in Australia.
“The new Mahalo Far East project will invest about $5.5 million over six years into the state and local economies,” Stewart added.
“Supporting exploration in Queensland and maintaining a pipeline of resources projects means more gas for local industry and more jobs.”
The Queensland Government is also investing $5 million to investigate the feasibility of a physical 500km gas transmission pipeline to connect the Bowen Basin to the domestic and export markets.
More than 80,000 square kilometres of lands for gas exploration has been released since 2015, with almost a quarter of it guaranteed for the Australian domestic market.