THE RISE AND RISE OF COAL SEAM GAS IN THE BOWEN BASIN

Abstract

The coal seam gas (CSG) industry has been active in Australia for almost three decades, with interest largely focussed on the Bowen and Sydney basins. Sporadic activity has also occurred in a number of other areas including the Galilee, Ipswich, Clarence–Moreton, Gunnedah, Gloucester, and Otway basins to name a few, with significant recent interest shown in the promising Surat Basin. Of these basins it is the Bowen Basin in eastern central Queensland which has continued to shine as the premier coal seam gas province in the country.

From humble beginnings in the mid-1970s in the Moura area, CSG from the Bowen Basin now supplies around 20% of Queensland gas demand. Since the start of commercial production from the basin in 1996, production has grown to about 20 PJ per year from five separate fields, with three new fields under construction expected to more than double this volume over the next 2–3 years.

The largest contribution to this growth will come from the Comet Ridge region which is proving itself to be a world class CSG deposit. The high-productivity fairway in the south of the region extends over an area about 80 km long and 20 km wide and includes the Tipperary Fairview field, and the Origin Energy Spring Gully project. In the last year proved and probable gas reserves have more than doubled to 1,500 PJ across the fairway, with upside recoverable gas estimated to be 4,700 PJ. The rapid rate of CSG reserves increase in the Bowen Basin demonstrates the key role this industry will play in the eastern Australia gas market.