Aust govt okays first coal seam gas projects

CANBERRA: The federal government has approved Australia’s first multi-billion-dollar coal seam gas projects, angering farmers and environmentalists but promising a major jobs boost for Queensland.
Environment minister Tony Burke told a media conference in Canberra last Friday his department had given conditional environmental approvals for Gladstone liquefied natural gas (GLNG)  –  a joint venture between Santos, Malaysia’s Petronas and France’s Total – and BG Group’s Queensland Curtis LNG.
“I have decided that these projects can go ahead without unacceptable impacts on matters protected under national environmental law,” Burke said, revealing he had placed 300 conditions on each of the projects.
“We must protect the Great Artesian Basin, our threatened species, our waterways and the Great Barrier Reef.”
The approvals were delayed earlier this year by Burke’s predecessor, Peter Garrett, who was concerned about the projects’ potential impact on groundwater and the Great Barrier Reef.
Santos chief executive David Knox said the environmental approval was an important milestone for GLNG ahead of a final investment decision later this year.
“As our EIS submission outlined, we are committed to implementing comprehensive environmental management plans,” Knox said in a statement last Friday.
A final investment decision will be made later this year.
The A$16 billion GLNG project involves 2650 coal seam gas wells being drilled over 25 years in Queensland’s Surat and Bowen Basins, a 435km steel pipeline from the Fairview gas fields to Gladstone, and an LNG plant and export facility on Curtis Island.
The project is expected to create about 5,000 construction jobs, as well as 1,000 permanent operational jobs from the start of shipments of LNG in 2014.
QGC Pty Ltd, a BG Group business, received Queensland government approval for the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) project in June. – AAP