Gas supply boost

THE Federal Government has handed out $24 million in funding to fast track the development of four gas projects, as part of its Gas Acceleration Program (GAP). The funding will enable an additional 12.4 petajoules of gas to be supplied to the East Coast gas market by 30 June 2020, and an extra 27.6 petajoules over five years. Each project received a $6 million grant towards their respective developments, including Armour Energy to put towards drilling three additional production wells at its Kincora gas plant in QLD; Westside Corporation to put towards the drilling of 10 additional single lateral wells at its Greater Meridian project in QLD; Beach Energy’s new Katnook Gas Processing Facility in South Australia; and Tri-star Fairfields’ four new wells west of Rolleston, QLD. Federal Resources minister Matt Canavan said the extra supply would help safeguard Australia’s future gas security. “While Australian Government measures like the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and the Prime Minister’s agreement with LNG exporters in October 2017 have helped to address domestic gas supply in the short term, the only way to provide gas security into the future is by increasing the supply of gas through increased development,” Mr Canavan said. “The GAP is fast tracking projects with the best prospects of bringing significant new gas volumes to target markets by mid-2020.”