Peter Henderson vows to clear Metgasco Obeid-tie allegations
Sarah-Jane Tasker The Australian May 24, 2014 12:00AM
IT was at 9.30 the night before Metgasco’s gas licence suspension was announced that managing director Peter Henderson got the first news that “horrified” him.
Then it was via a 6am call from a journalist the next morning, May 15, that he learned the company’s gas exploration licence in northern NSW had also been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The company had not been informed of this by the government.
Metgasco has been the focus of strong community opposition to its gas drilling in Bentley, where hundreds of protesters have camped. Its share price was halved by the suspension.
The company’s image has now been further tarnished by links to the alleged corrupt behaviours of the Obeid family that have been the focus of ICAC investigations.
Mr Henderson said he was confident the company’s licence was valid and certain its name would be cleared by ICAC.
But he was even more determined to prove the licence should not have been suspended, saying the government did not review the company’s community consultation program before the announcement. The Office of Coal Seam Gas, which suspended the licence, said the company had not met conditions for its Rosella well that related to community consultation.
“We talk to the OCSG regularly, almost weekly on one issue or another,” Mr Henderson said.
“They have had plenty of opportunity, had there been a problem, for them to express concern.”
A spokesman from the Division of Resources and Energy would not explain why the OCSG had not engaged with Metgasco about its concerns.
But he did say the OCSG had put a hold on Metgasco’s activities until it could demonstrate compliance with its community consultation requirements.
The company had received environmental approval to drill its Rosella well and had the drilling rig ready to send there. Metgasco said the suspension would result in a direct loss of up to $3m in cancellation costs.
Mr Henderson said the OCSG knew the drill rig was being mobilised to the site, near Lismore in the NSW Northern Rivers region, and police had resources in place to move the protesters camped at the site ahead of the surprise announcement.
He said days before the suspension announcement Metgasco’s board had a meeting with police, who confirmed that the resources were there.
“We are seeking to have the suspension reviewed, we hope that would see the suspension withdrawn and we are very keen to work with government to move ahead and build a gas industry in NSW,” Mr Henderson said.
He did not agree with the assertion that the company had wrongly promoted the well as a “conventional” gas well instead of an “unconventional” one.
“We have always acknowledged that we might find tight sands as well, sands that will require horizontal drilling or possibly fracking to make them flow,” he said.
“We have never given any reason to believe differently on that.
“We are not aware of any work the government did to review our community consultation program before they made their suspension decision.”
Shares in the company have almost halved since the announcement, which it has said will see its investors face losses of about $18m. The company has about 5500 shareholders, most of them small investors and many from the Northern Rivers region.
It is Metgasco’s largest shareholder, ERM Power, that has been highlighted as allegedly having links to disgraced former Labor powerbroker and cabinet minister Eddie Obeid, which has caused the referral to ICAC.
ERM’s chairman, Tony Bellas, is in business with Dennis Jabour, who is Mr Obeid’s nephew. Mr Bellas is a former director of Australian Water Queensland, for whom Mr Obeid’s son Eddie Obeid Jr once worked.
Mr Henderson said the allegations are “shocking” and “appalling”. “If people do the analysis they will realise that ERM was not on our register until late 2011,” he said. “Any time that Eddie Obeid as minister was involved in renewing licences was well before ERM was on our register.
“Also, ERM will argue very strongly that its chairman is a very sound man and has been badly defamed by this.
“ERM are just a major shareholder, they don’t have any seats on our board or any influence on our decision-making.”
NSW Minister for Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts made the referral to ICAC and while his spokesman would not explain why the government did not notify the company of the ICAC referral before it was announced, he said the minister made no apologies for being open and transparent about the actions taken.
MEL Price at posting:
5.4¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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