Drilling to start on 600 gas wells in Western Downs

PREPARATION has begun to drill 600 gas wells on 2500 sqkm blocks between Chinchilla and Dalby.

READY TO GO: Arrow Energy's long-planned Surat Gas Project was given the go-ahead by the State Government earlier this year. Pic: Supplied

THE MULTIBILLION Surat Gas Project fronted by Arrow Energy and back by significant investments by Shell QGC and PetroChina - is set to start drilling within the next two months.

The Surat Gas Project (SGP) is planning on drilling at least 600 well in Wandoan, Chinchilla, Dalby, Millmerran/Kogan, and Goondiwindi, which is underpinned by 16 petroleum leases covering around 2500 sqkm on blocks between Dalby and Chinchilla.

An Arrow Energy spokesman said the SGP is on target to begin drilling before the new year.

"Since project sanction we have been undertaking land access, engineering, and procurement activities in support of the commencement of drilling before the end of the year with activities ramping up in 2021 to a sustained activity level," he said.

The spokesman said the project is set to support local services and create up to 200 construction roles during the first phase of the operation, along with a large proportion of Arrow's existing Surat Basin workforce living in and around Dalby.

"The construction roles will be generated by the contracting companies appointed by Arrow to deliver discrete parcels of work.

"Arrow requires all businesses contracting for supply services or goods to provide a local content plan outlining how they will provide local procurement and employment commitments.

"The companies which have successfully tendered for work are building their crews and, when settled, will report to us on numbers and source locations."

Since the very beginning of the project, the spokesman said Arrow Energy decided to create a lower impact project, using a lot of pre-existing infrastructure.

"There will be a sizeable ramp-up in comparison to Arrow's historic levels of operation but not to the levels of CSG projects to date," he said.

"The Surat Gas Project will take advantage of spare capacity in existing facilities, such as those for gas compression and water treatment, significantly reducing the construction of major facilities - this means less impact on our farming communities."

The SGP is forecast to produce up to 90 billion cubic feet of new gas per year to the market during its peak production.

As Arrow won't be constructing new pipelines, it will flow through existing upstream pipelines and treatment facilities through Shell QGC to be sold locally and exported to their plant on Curtis Island.

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