Australian LNG player Santos said the GLNG joint venture has been selected by the Queensland Government as the preferred tenderer for two new exploration areas in the state’s Surat Basin.
Santos said in its statement that the exploration blocks are, PLR2019-1-10 – located 67 km east of Roma spanning 89 square kilometers, and PLR2019-1-9 – located 41 km east of Roma spanning 12 square kilometers.
The work programs involve seismic, pilot wells and extended production testing and work will start after all environmental approvals are in place and the acreage is formally awarded to the GLNG joint venture.
GLNG is a joint venture between Santos, Petronas, Total and KOGAS with Australian natural gas company as operator.
Santos managing director and CEO Kevin Gallagher said, “We will leverage our extensive knowledge of the Surat Basin to quickly and efficiently define the resource.”
“By using existing infrastructure located in the adjoining GLNG Roma development project, Santos and its partners will maximize the extent and value of the resource,” he said.
He further noted that the company is investing in new coal seam gas production in Queensland for domestic and international customers.
“Opening up new sources of supply for GLNG means more Santos gas can flow to southern markets and the best way to bring down gas prices for all our customers is to increase supply,” Gallagher said.
Santos is on track to supply about 70 petajoules of natural gas to the east coast market in 2019, about 14 percent of demand.