Gas explorers in Queensland's inland Galilee Basin are harbouring hopes of an early start to production as momentum builds behind coal projects in the region, offering potential for sales ahead of the construction of pipeline to transport gas to the high-priced east coast market.

The basin is estimated to hold more than 8000 petajoules of gas resources, about 15 times the annual east coast domestic gas consumption, but the gas remains commercially unproven and it is currently stranded from the east coast gas grid network.