Shell to drill new gas wells to meet Australian gas requirements

Shell claims that this will help it to continue supplying 10% of the domestic gas market, in order to prevent a shortage.

Reuters claims that the drilling of these new wells will not affect LNG exports from the Queensland Curtis project.

Reuters reports that the project at the QGC operations in the Surat Basin in southeast Queensland has been planned for a while as current wells decline, with new wells to be drilled in 2017 – 2018. Reportedly, these will help maintain the company’s 75 PJ/yr of gas supplies to the gas market in eastern Australia.

This announcement by Shell follows recent discussions between the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and Australian gas producers (led by ExxonMobil Corp. and Shell Australia) on how supplies can be increased, in order to deal with a potential shortage in the next couple of years, as warned by the country’s energy market operator.