The potential for Queensland’s Bowen Basin to be a major contributor to Australia’s diminishing east coast gas supplies has received a further timely boost with a significant resource upgrade announced by Brisbane-based Blue Energy Limited (ASX: “BUL”).
The upgrade – from the Company’s Northern Bowen Basin gas fields – comes amid continued analysis of the parlous state of gas supply to east coast consumers and now the forecast potential for reduction in LNG export volumes from Gladstone from 2025, due to lower than expected field gas supply to the six LNG export trains.
Blue Energy’s CEO and Managing Director, Mr John Phillips, said the Northern Bowen Basin is already a significant gas province with existing discovered gas resources of around 15,000 petajoules (PJ) – enough to supply the domestic gas market for 30 years.
“While the basin is presently on production into the small Townsville and Moranbah markets, the need for a new pipeline link south from Moranbah to bring these significant gas resources to east coast markets is paramount,” Mr Phillips said.
“The Northern Bowen Basin, which already has major development projects that have Government and environment approval and are ready to execute, can deliver significant gas volumes to the southern market, if these projects are commenced,” he said.
“The fact that these projects are idle is a reflection of the concentration of reserve ownership in eastern Australia and the seriatim of global capital allocation opportunities across the large corporate’s portfolios, together with the cost structures of these organisations and resultant comparative returns of the competing global projects.”
Blue Energy said the Northern Bowen Basin resource upgrade announced followed a review and confirmation of the Company’s existing gas resource in permit area ATP814P by leading international independent reserve certifier, Netherland, Sewell and Associates Inc (NSAI).
“NSAI has subsequently advised an upgrade of our existing ATP814P gas resource in the Northern Bowen Basin in Queensland by an additional 237 petajoules (PJ) of technically recoverable natural gas in the Contingent Resource category (3C),” Mr Phillips said.
