Land made available for petroleum and gas exploration

Published Friday, 04 April, 2014 at 12:04 PM

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines
The Honourable Andrew Cripps

Petroleum and gas explorers could help unlock major economic benefits for Queensland following the release of more than 16,400 square kilometres of land in the state’s north-west and south-west.

Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps said the Queensland Government had released land in six areas for petroleum and gas exploration through a non-cash competitive tender.

“This release of land delivers on the Government’s election promise to grow resources as one of the four pillars of the economy, a sector that was taken for granted by Labor,” Mr Cripps said.

“New discoveries could deliver strong economic benefits for Queensland and potentially created tens of thousands of jobs.

“It is vital we continue to have ongoing exploration as we still have large potential resources in the ground.

“Any discoveries made during exploration have the potential to generate wealth and create jobs for Queenslanders, particularly in the regions.”

Mr Cripps said the land available through tenders were located south of Normanton, north of Camooweal in far north west Queensland and areas to the west of Quilpie.

“Queensland’s mining industry will benefit from the release of under-explored land, considered to be frontier areas with little or no previous exploration,” he said.

“The land we are releasing has potential for new discoveries of both conventional and unconventional petroleum resources, and the area to the west of Quilpie possibly contain oil resources as well.

“Discovery and development of these resources has the potential to improve energy security to some of Queensland’s most important mining areas in the west and north-west of the state.”

The Petroleum Calls for Tenders closes at 4.30pm Monday, 29 September 2014.

Tenders can be lodged at:
The Department for Natural Resources and Mines,
Level 16, QMEC Building,
61 Mary Street, Brisbane, Queensland.

More information about the petroleum land tender is available at www.dnrm.qld.gov.au. Interested persons can also telephone the Manager, Energy Geoscience, Geological Survey of Queensland, on 07 3035 5228.

[ENDS] 4 April 2014

Media contact: Kate Haddan 0418 373 516

 
Editor’s notes:

The six areas subject to this non-cash tender are:

PLR2014-1
PLR2014-1-1 is located in the Carpentaria Basin 50 kilometres (km) south of Normanton. It covers an area of approximately 8,009 square kilometres (km2), comprising 2475 sub-blocks. It has poor seismic survey coverage, with approximately 300 line kilometres.

PLR2014-1-2
PLR2014--2 is situated in the northern section of the Georgina Basin (Undilla Sub-basin) over the South Nicholson Basin and possibly the Isa Superbasin, about 100 km north of Camooweal. It covers an area of approximately 2,575 km2, comprising 800 sub-blocks. There is no seismic survey coverage over the area.

PLR2014-1-3
PLR2014-1-3 is situated over a deeper part of the Georgina Basin (Undilla Sub-basin), where basement is at greater than 6,000 metres, about 40 km north of Camooweal. It covers an area of approximately 2,808 km2, comprising 875 sub-blocks. There is no seismic survey coverage over the area.

PLR2014-1-4
PLR2014-1-4 is located in the south eastern part of the Cooper-Eromanga basins about 100 km west-northwest of Quilpie in western Queensland. It covers an area of approximately 1,043 km2 and comprises 340 sub-blocks. The area has good seismic survey coverage, with more than 2,100 line kilometres.

PLR2014-1-5
PLR2014-1-5 is located in the southern Eromanga Basin about 60 km west of Quilpie. It covers an area of approximately 1614 km2 and comprises 524 sub-blocks. The area has good seismic survey coverage, with over 2,500 line kilometres.

PLR2014-1-6
PLR2014-1-6 is located in the south eastern part of the Eromanga Basin south of the Harkaway Anticline about 100 km west-south-west of Quilpie. It covers an area of approximately 428 km2 and comprises 146 sub-blocks. The area has moderate to good seismic survey coverage, with approximately 1,600 line kilometres.