New land release a boost to exploration opportunities

The Newman Government has today provided another boost to Queensland’s petroleum and gas sector with the release of over 8700 square kilometres of new land for exploration.

Addressing the annual Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) conference in Brisbane today, Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps called for work program-based tenders to explore for petroleum and gas resources on land located in under-explored and greenfield areas of the State.

“The land open for competitive tender collectively covers 8,783 sq km of under-explored and greenfield terrain in central, south-western and far north Queensland,” Mr Cripps said.

“There is no cash component involved in this particular land tender.

“Applicants will be competitively assessed according to their proposed work program, technical and financial capability and their capacity to meet all relevant evaluation criteria.

“This includes complying with strict environmental, strategic cropping land, land access and native title requirements.

“It is also important to emphasise that this process only grants companies the right to explore, not the right to develop the resource or engage in any commercial petroleum and gas production.”

Mr Cripps said this latest release of land to a competitive tender process is an indication of the Newman Government’s commitment to the resources sector.

“This release of land will provide an important economic boost to the resource sector, particularly the exploration industry,” he said.

“Making additional land available for petroleum and gas exploration is vital to maintaining a strong petroleum exploration sector and Queensland’s attractiveness for investment.

“This controlled land release will help stimulate continued interest in greenfield exploration in Queensland, particularly from the smaller mining exploration sector through the release of over 2,800 sub-blocks.

“Exploration today will help unlock the petroleum and gas resources to drive the projects of tomorrow and the jobs and economic benefits they generate for all Queenslanders.”

Mr Cripps said the six areas subject to this non-cash, work program-based tender are:

PLR2013-1-1

PLR2013-1-1 is located in the southwest Surat Basin and 70km southeast of Cunnamulla. The area is approximately 1883km² (625 sub-blocks) and overlies the basement rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt.

PLR2013-1-2

PLR2013-1-2 overlies the deeper part of the Taroom Trough of the Permian-Middle Triassic Bowen Basin. The area is located 25km west from Moura and is approximately 1228km² (394 sub-blocks) in area.

PLR2013-1-3

PLR2013-1-3 is located on the eastern side of the Taroom Trough. This is about 25km east of Moura and is approximately 2506km² (804 sub-blocks) in area.

PLR20133-1-4

PLR2013-1-4 is approximately 992km² (326 sub-blocks) in area and located on the western side of the Taroom Trough, which is 30km southwest of Surat.

PLR2013-1-5

PLR2013-1-5 is located on the western side of the Taroom Trough and 50km northeast of St George and is approximately 936km² (309 sub-blocks) in area.

PLR2013-2-1

PLR2013-2-1 is located in the Pascoe River area in northeast Cape York Peninsula. It is 120km east of Weipa and approximately 1238km² (371 sub-blocks) in area. This area is the subject of native title and an agreement will need to be reached prior to the grant of the ATP.

Successful applicants will be granted an Authority to Prospect (ATP) to explore for petroleum and gas resources on the land.

Interested parties have until 4:30pm on Friday 22 November 2013 to lodge their tender applications.

Further information is available at: www.dnrm.qld.gov.au

[ENDS] 28 May, 2013

Media contact: Jane Paterson 0417 281 754 or Paul Sutherland 0428 868 237