History of gas exploration uncertainty continues in the far west

On Wednesday, the Minns Labor Government announced the Bancannia and Pondie Range Troughs will be opened for new exploration to help meet forecast gas shortfalls.

This came with a reduction in the gas exploration licence application fee from $50,000 to $1,000.

The Bancannia and Pondie Ridge Troughs cover a total area of around 13,200km² and sit across the Great Artesian Basin as well as the Murray Darling Basin, adjacent to the Mutawintja State Conservation Area, Nature Reserve and National Park.

In the 60 years to 2013, prior to sweeping regulatory changes in NSW, a combined total of 23 Petroleum Exploration Licences (PELs) were held between the two troughs.

The decision to re-open both troughs to exploration comes five years after the Coalition government scaled back the size of the area covered by PELs and committed to not releasing further areas for gas exploration, including in the far west.

At the start of 2021, the NSW Government officially began exploring options to release four areas between Broken Hill and Cobar for gas exploration. As well as Bancannia and Pondie Range, these areas were the Neckarboo Trough and Yathong-Ivanhoe Trough.

Community feedback for the proposal received 382 responses – the large majority of which were opposed due to potential impacts on water, agriculture, and Aboriginal connection to country and community.

At the time the Yathong-Ivanhoe Neckarboo Aquifer Alliance (YINAA), a community group opposed to the project, amassed 200 members.

Based on the feedback – as well as an assessment of the land’s agricultural value, population density, and the ability for current regulation to limit the impact to areas of value – the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment recommended release of the Bancannia and Pondie Range Troughs be prioritised.

This was supported by 2021 reports by Geological Survey of NSW which placed both troughs in the highest tier for petroleum prospectivity relative to other underexplored troughs in the far west.

Later that year the NSW Government released its Future of Gas Statement which outlined its decision not to release any areas in the far west for exploration was made based on resource potential and community feedback “to provide certainty to local communities and regional industry”.

“Given the expected longer term outlook for gas demand amid the broader energy mix, ongoing land use conflict in areas subject to gas exploration and proposed investments in additional supply infrastructure, the NSW Government will not release further areas for gas exploration in NSW,” the statement reads.

“Supply security will be achieved through the Narrabri Gas Project, and interstate imports, supplemented by LNG imports from overseas. This will ensure gas supply can be flexibly scaled to respond to demand.”

The Minns Government said its recent decision to open the areas for exploration will complement the Narrabri Gas Project – which has also seen fierce pushback from community and Traditional Owners.

A three-month period for exploration licence application will start on May 1.

Advocacy groups have labelled the decision environmentally, socially and economically damaging.

“The current volatility in global markets is an emergency siren to NSW – we shouldn’t be locking our economy further onto expensive fossil fuels like gas,” Lock the Gate Alliance’s Clean Industry Coordinator Harriet Kater said

“Just last month a broad coalition of unions and community organisations called on the NSW Government to commit to an economy-wide gas reduction plan, which would make energy more affordable, protect and create manufacturing jobs and improve community health.”

Quoting figures from a report by Springmount Advisory, commissioned by Lock the Gate, Kater said almost three quarters of gas use in NSW could be replaced with commercially available technology including electrification and heat pumps.

“A 52 per cent gas reduction target by 2035 is achievable for the state,” Kater said.

“The NSW Government has a real opportunity to invest in a stable and affordable clean energy future, but instead it is pandering to the gas industry.”

Main image: Gas processing plant at Talinga Orana Gas Gathering Station in Queensland, Australia. (iStock)