Surat basin gas: Senex confirms $1b expansions of Queensland gas fields

A $1 billion expansion of a South East Queensland gas field is set to deliver enough of the resource into the domestic market to cover 40 per cent of the state’s needs, as the federal government confirms it will likely have to do the heavy lifting for the nation.

A major $1bn expansion of a Queensland gas field by a company part-owned by mining magnate Gina Reinhart will pump enough of the resource into the domestic market to cover 40 per cent of the state’s needs.

The major announcement by gas producer Senex came the same day Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King was set to gently urge Queensland to open up more gas fields to help keep the nation’s lights on.

And Ms King, in a speech in Brisbane on Thursday, revealed she wasn’t confident people in the southern states — New South Wales and Victoria — would become more receptive to gas projects over time meaning Queensland would be left doing the heavy lifting.

Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian MacFarlane said the state would have to bear the burden until such time Victoria and NSW developed its own onshore gas projects.

“But the political reality of that is there is not the courage in the governments in those states to do that,” he said.

Gas producer Senex has confirmed a major $1bn expansion of its projects in the Surat Basin to produce 60 petajoules of gas by 2025.

The same afternoon, gas giant Santos confirmed it had bought a gas pipeline route that would pass close to the long-delayed NSW Narrabri gas project.

Senex, a joint venture between South Korean steel giant Posco and Reinhart’s Hancock Energy, confirmed on Thursday it would spend $1bn to expand its projects in the Surat Basin and produce 60 petajoules of gas by 2025.

It is enough gas to cover 40 per cent of Queensland’s domestic needs or 10 per cent of the east coast, with chief executive Ian Davies confirming a “majority” of the gas was exclusively for domestic use.

Senex also has a deal with Gladstone LNG for a “minority” of the gas, which will be exported.

Of the gas coming out of Australia’s east coast, 75 per cent is from Queensland. Since 2015 the state government has released 20,000 sqkm of land — 3.5 times the size of Bali — for explorers to find gas for domestic use.

Ms King, asked when the southern states would pull their weight on the gas, said states had made their own choices and while she would not push them, it would be helpful if consumers understood the energy mix in their areas.

But she also said she wasn’t “confident” that would change in the southern states.

“In defence, they do have pretty ambitious targets around net zero which their community expects and their voters expect and you know, that’s a constituency that I respect,” she said.

Mr Davies said the project had approvals for two of the three areas which required it and was working on securing the green light for the final acreage.

According to Senex the expansion of the Atlas and Roma North fields would create 200 construction jobs and 50 ongoing jobs.