nsw wants foreign investors to fuel csg

From AFR

http://afr.com/p/national/nsw_wants_foreign_investors_to_fuel_qkxnelRk7CPpwYeb3O0mRI



NSW Energy and Resources Minister Chris Hartcher has appealed to foreign investors in the energy sector to consider investing in the state’s coal seam gas industry to help meet NSW demand as well as develop a gas export industry.

Mr Hartcher said the government had held preliminary talks with the aim of developing Newcastle as an LNG export port. However, initial development of the state’s plentiful CSG resources would focus on meeting NSW’s own demand, which is now almost totally supplied from other states.

He said that now the state’s strategic land use policy was in place there were plenty of opportunities for investors.

“We have now the reserves, we have now the legislative process,” the minister told the Australia Gas conference in Sydney on Thursday. “You have now the opportunity to take advantage of that if you are so inclined. We are keen to see our unconventional gas developed in NSW.”

Eastern Star Gas had a tentative plan to export LNG from Newcastle, but it was bought by Santos, which wants to use its reserves for domestic supplies or potentially for its own LNG export project being developed in Queensland.

“We are also keen to see gas exports take place from NSW,” Mr Hartcher told the conference.

Production within NSW now meets only 5 per cent of the state’s needs, from AGL’s Camden CSG project south of Sydney. However, Santos is spending $500 million on CSG drilling in the next three years, while Dart Energy, Metgasco and others also have plans for CSG production.

Mr Hartcher said the government hoped that within a couple of years, some of the state’s many CSG exploration licences would be converted into production licences for NSW supplies. An export industry could develop within five to 10 years that could eventually rival Queensland’s $50 billion industry, he said.