SP to rocket on 12/02/2021, page-899

Mr Pitt wants to make a final decision on the licence extension soon, and urged the community to keep the project in perspective.

"We should keep in mind, this [exploration area] is thousands of square kilometres and the well is the size of a dining room table," he said.Mr Pitt said any rigs would be around 30 kilometres offshore, and hard to see from the coast.

"Rigs will not be popping up off Sydney Harbour and surfers will not be dodging them trying to catch waves," he said.He said other states, like Western Australia and Victoria, were benefitting from offshore gas projects, and the risks were low in New South Wales.

"We've had a gas industry for decades, more than 50 years in Australia," Mr Pitt said. "It's very strongly regulated by one of the best regulators in the world and they've been successful for a long time."

While it was due to expire today, the PEP-11 licence has now entered a rollover period and exploration can continue until a final decision is made.

He is ultimately responsible for the decision. With his stance as it is, this will happen. Next few weeks we will see Approval IMO