Senex has announced a gas sales agreement to supply the Capricorn Copper mine, owned by Australian resources company 29Metals Limited, with around 2.5 petajoules (PJ) of natural gas over three years.
The Capricorn Copper mine is about 120km north of Mount Isa, Queensland. Natural gas is to be supplied by Senex at the Diamantina Power Station in Mount Isa, generating the power required to operate the Capricorn Copper mine.
Under the three-year agreement starting 1 January 2022, Senex will supply around 2.5 PJ of natural gas to support mining and processing operations. Terms have also been agreed that can extend gas supply a further two years which would increase sales up to around 4 PJ.
Acting APPEA Chief Executive Damian Dwyer said the deal struck between Senex and 29Metals Limited was the 110th agreement reached with domestic customers since December 2012.”
“Gas means jobs. Gas means reliability. Gas means a bright future for regional Queensland. Gas has showed how reliable it is throughout the pandemic and with the breakdown of other energy sources, the industry has continued to do the heavy lifting to ensure the lights are kept on, factories kept running and that there is no gas shortfall in the domestic market,” Mr Dwyer said.
“The market is clearly working with competitively priced gas continuing to deliver for Australia. Domestic users are paying less for Australian gas over the long term than overseas markets and have been doing so for some time.
“The gas being supplied to the region is vital for the development of the Queensland Government’s Strategic Blueprint for the North West Minerals Province.
“The release of a comprehensive independent report by EY into future prospects for Queensland’s gas industry this week shows the potential for it to add more value than the 2032 Olympic Games to the state’s economy.
“The report shows the industry has already added $106 billion or 3% per annum to the Queensland economy over the last decade, employing more than 36,000 workers and paying $13 billion in taxes.
“But this is the tip of the iceberg, EY are predicting a bright future for Queensland’s gas industry driven by high demand for cleaner energy in Asia as they look to switch from coal to gas due to our product’s lower emissions.
“EY have found that fully unleashing Queensland’s gas industry potential could result in a further $30 billion in investment producing 7000 PJ of production capacity in the Queensland oil and gas industry over the next 20 years.
“In fact, EY said with the right policy settings a further $129.3 billion could be added to Queensland’s Gross State Product in the next 20 years under a high growth scenario, with Queensland’s economic output due to gas being $8.7 billion higher in 2026 — this represents almost 2.5% of the current Queensland economy.”
