Senex invited to the QLD junior Gas party

Senex invited to the QLD junior gas party.

This is great news on AFR

• Queensland flags more gas exploration leases for domestic use only
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  Senex Energy on Tuesday announced it would commence drilling of the Silver Star-1 gas exploration well in SA Cooper Basin. Bloomberg
  by Mark Ludlow
  The Queensland government said it was willing to expand its gas exploration program, which mandated any new reserves must be used for domestic use in an attempt to help resolve the national energy crisis.
  
  As big gas producers prepare to meet with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg in Canberra on Wednesday, the Palaszczuk Labor government said it would help facilitate the opening up of its significant gas reserves to deal with the looming gas shortage in the eastern states.
  
  The move could be part of a circuit-breaker to help gas producers avoid any potential restrictions of LNG exports being diverted to the domestic market.
  
  Energy Minister Mark Bailey said while the gas shortage had "been an issue for some time", they said they were willing to expand the pilot program of 58 square kilometres in the Surat Basin announced earlier this year, which will have strict Australia-only sale conditions on any gas produced.
  
  
  Queensland's $80 billion liquefied natural gas industry is partly responsible for the bulk of Australian gas being exported overseas rather than being used for domestic use.
  
  
  But Mr Bailey said the finger should not be pointed at the LNG industry, which has created thousands of jobs and is set to deliver billions of dollars of royalties into state coffers.
  
  "If we hadn't created a huge export industry, the gas wouldn't be entering into the domestic market now," Mr Bailey said in an interview with The Australian Financial Review.
  
  "There is still a lot of reserves we can explore. It's getting it out of the ground and into the market place which is important. If the Prime Minister wants to talk we're ready."
  
  Senex Energy deal
  
  Natural Resources Minister Anthony Lynham on Tuesday called an urgent meeting of the state's junior gas explorers this week to explore further initiatives to boost exploration.
  
  Dr Lynham said there had been strong interest in the Surat Basin pilot and they were keen to explore new incentives for small and medium explorers. This includes Senex who recently announced advancing their Western Surat project and Beach Energy who hold gross acreage of more than 69,000 square kilometres in the Cooper Basin.
  
  Topics up for discussion would include access to pipelines and upstream infrastructure, new acreage that could be released and streamlining approvals.
  
  "Exploration is what drives supply and I'm surprised the Commonwealth has not sought to engage on initiatives that could increase exploration and production in Queensland and South Australia," he said.
  
  
  Some of the initiatives the Queensland government wants the Commonwealth to fast-track include the extension of the exploration development incentive to include petroleum juniors; incentives for infrastructure provision and support for critical infrastructure, financial support for pre-competitive exploration data in frontier basins and funding for the Great Artesian Basin sustainability initiative.
  
  Senex Energy on Tuesday announced it would commence drilling of the Silver Star-1 gas exploration well in SA Cooper Basin, as part of a joint venture with Origin Energy.
  
  Senex managing director Ian Davies said the drilling program reflected its continued commitment to onshore gas exploration and to building an opportunity pipeline capable of delivering significant gas volumes to market.
  
  "The areas on which we are focused have multi-Tcf potential and gas exploration programs such as this are crucial to unlocking more supply for the east coast market," Mr Davies said.
  
  
  It comes as the Queensland government's submission to the Finkel review ruled out the building of any new coal-fired power stations in the state. It said the Turnbull government's push to fund "clean coal" projects was misguided.
  
  "New coal-fired plants [including ultrasupercritical plants] are not bankable and there is no appetite, amongst Australian power industry investors to participate in such investments - even if they were subsidised," the submission said.
  
  "Simply put, investing in coal-fired technology when other cheaper and lower carbon generation sources are, or will, become available is not rational."
  
  Although dominated by coal-fired generation now, the Palaszczuk government has committed to moving to 50 per cent renewables by 2030.