Shell Australia has decided to drill up to 161 additional wells in Queensland to improve gas supply for exports and domestic usage.
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The drilling campaign Project Ruby is undertaken by Shell Australia's QGC joint venture will expand operations in the Surat Basin and support 350 new and existing jobs in regional Queensland during the 16-month construction period.
The initiative will also maintain QGC’s gas production as older wells are expected to be depleted.
Shell chairman Andrew Smith stated that this project will maintain and support gas supplies to the east coast market and also be effective to protect regional jobs in Australia.
Smith said: “This is the next significant milestone for the QGC project and a further vote of confidence in Queensland’s onshore gas industry.
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By GlobalData“We are proud to be investing in regional Queensland, where state and local government have had the vision to establish the rules for a gas industry that creates jobs and supports farmers by providing water, building new roads and paying taxes.
“During construction the Queensland gas industry created more than 40,000 jobs, and even today after construction has been completed it employs 13,000 people.”
The new wells are scheduled to be drilled this year and next year, and will be carried out in QGC’s existing tenements at south-west Queensland.
Shell is currently negotiating with the landholders to devise access conditions, compensation and identify the location of the wells.
The company is also working to minimise impact of this drilling campaign on agricultural activities.
Smith also said: “Queensland has shown itself to be a leader in creating an onshore gas industry, creating valuable export jobs, and today’s announcement shows the industry is growing and creating more jobs.
“Local gas production also means Queensland customers will pay less for gas than those in southern states.
“This is a competitive advantage for Queensland business in attracting manufacturing jobs from Victoria where gas customers will be forced to pay more for political reasons.”
Shell’s QGC business is expected to sell more than 75 petajoules (PJs) of domestic gas to Australian customers this year, which is more than 10% of east coast gas demand and 40% of Queensland’s demand.
Image: A Shell gas refinery in Australia. Photo: courtesy of Shell / Flickr.
