Page 13 - AsianOil Week 43

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reserves. The academic added that it proved China was ramping up efforts to find uncon- ventional oil, which should help reduce pro- duction costs quickly.
PetroChina Qingcheng Oilfield has report- edly completed 216 horizontal wells this year, of which 100 oil wells have been brought online.
Daily crude oil production has reached 1,464 tonnes (10,700 barrels). By the end of the year the company aims to have completed 255 hori- zontal wells, lifting crude oil production capacity to 1mn tpy (20,000 bpd). The company intends to establish 5mn tpy (100,000 bpd) of production capacity by the end of 2025.™
OCEANIA
Queensland awards new exploration acreage
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
AUSTRALIA’S Queensland State has awarded 3,450 square km of new exploration acreage to six companies, with two of parcels ringfenced for the domestic market.
The government announced on October 30 that Comet Ridge and Denison Gas had been awarded 450 square km and 568 square km respectively and would be required to sell any ensuing production to domestic buyers. Galilee Energy was awarded 1,425 square km, a West- side-Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) venture won 753 square km, the Santos-led GLNG pro- ject won two permits spanning 101 square km and Red Energy won 153 square km.
“These operators now have the opportunity to hunt for gas in proven gas-rich Bowen and Surat basins,” Energy Minister Anthony Lynham said. He added: “Queensland is open for business and I encourage these companies to progress the necessary approvals to get the gas and associated jobs flowing.”
Santos’ managing director and CEO, Kevin Gallagher, said his company would leverage its extensive knowledge of the Surat Basin to “quickly and efficiently define the resource”.
The minister said the government intended to release 30,000 square km of new land – located in the Bowen, Surat, Galilee, Adavale, Eromanga and Millungera basins – for bids on November 7.
Lynham said the release would be one of the state’s largest, with more than 30% of the land having being earmarked for domestic supply.
“Business and industry – particularly our manufacturers – need more affordable gas to fuel jobs and there’s one surefire way to do that – produce more gas,” he said. “More gas from
more fields is the only long-term way to deal with affordable domestic gas supply.”
The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed the release of the new land, with CEO Ian Macfarlane saying the move is essen- tial to attract investment, boost exports and meet domestic gas demand.
The Brisbane government has released more than 39,000 square km of land for exploration since 2015, with more than 20% of that ear- marked for domestic buyers.
Lynham said two project developers – Senex and the APLNG-Armour Energy venture – had signed supply deals with local buyers. Senex’s Project Atlas has contracts with CSR, O-I glass and with Orora, while APLNG-Armour Energy has signed supply gas deals with Orica and Orora.™
Week 43 30•October•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P13