Senex Energy, an Australian oil and gas company has secured environmental approval from the state of Queensland to develop the Western Surat Gas Project in the Surat Basin.
The Western Surat Gas Project is being undertaken to facilitate the delivery of coal seam gas from an area of around 915km2, located north of Roma in the Australian state of Queensland.
The environmental approval, which is regarded as a major milestone of the project, will allow Senex Energy to develop up to 425 wells by building gas and water gathering networks, compression facilities, along with water management infrastructure.
Senex Energy is the sole owner of the gas project and is also its operator.
The exploration and production firm expects to get all the other State and Commonwealth regulatory approvals concerning the project development by the end of FY 2018. These would also include granting of a petroleum lease for the project to move ahead.
Senex managing director and CEO Ian Davies said: “We are making great progress on the Western Surat Gas Project, systematically achieving the milestones to move into the development phase.
“2018 is set to be an exciting time, with the production of material gas from the Phase 2 wells, and all the pieces in place for us to make the next material investment decision on the project.”
Senex Energy is targeting gas production of up to 50TJ/day from the Western Surat Gas Project.
The company had sanctioned an additional A$50m ($37.64) investment program earlier this year for the further appraisal of the acreage.
In late October, Senex Energy announced that it had commissioned the first of 30 appraisal wells as part of its phase 2 investment program on the gas project. The phase 2 program saw the drilling of 30 appraisal wells on the Eos and Glenora blocks.
Senex Energy had previously signed an agreement to sell up to 50TJ/day of gas from the project to the Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG) project for a period of 20 years. GLNG is a pipeline network owned by Santos.