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Macquarie has signed an agreement to investigate taking gas from
coal seams being drilled by junior Eastern Star Gas and its partner,
Houston-based Gastar Exploration.
It's a watershed deal. Not only does it unleash a potential new
energy source in the state, but it gives further credibility to the
coal seam gas story and it could transform Eastern Star, with the
potential project costing about $1.5 billion.
Eastern Star managing director Dennis Morton said his field in the
Gunnedah Basin would change the energy equation in NSW, where almost
all gas now comes from Bass Strait and the Cooper Basin in South
Australia.
"NSW will at last have a truly major, indigenous source of natural gas," he said.
Eastern Star shares moved only slightly, rising 1.5c to 30.5c - but
the subdued response could be due to a sharp rise in the shares in the
week preceding the announcement.
Macquarie is interested in taking the gas by pipeline to its Bayswater power station in the Hunter Valley.
The 2640 megawatt plant is now wholly coal-fired but the plan is to
use the gas to reheat the steam after it is used by the existing
generators into a second set of generators, allowing higher power
output without expanding coal usage and keeping the lid on greenhouse
emissions.
The extent to which NSW will be able to shed its reliance on gas
from other states hinges on how much gas Eastern Star and Gastar can
prove-up in their area lying to the west of the towns of Gunnedah and
Narrabri.
They hope to announce an initial resource of 100 petajoules by the
middle of the year, but the aim is to get that up quickly to 600PJ.
It has been estimated that their 9100sqkm licence area contains as
much as 17,000PJ, or 17 trillion cubic feet, of gas within the coal
seams.
Macquarie has agreed to work with the two companies to investigate a 300km high-pressure pipeline from Narrabri to Bayswater.
Mr Morton said the longer-term plan would be to sell gas into the
large urban markets centred on Sydney by extending the pipeline beyond
the power station.
The high cost of gas piped in from other states has meant that NSW is lagging other states in using the energy source.
NSW used about 120PJ a year, compared with 260PJ in Victoria, 140PJ
in Queensland and about 400PJ in Western Australia, he said.
The shorter distance of pipeline would mean cheaper gas for Sydney. And the pipeline makes coal seam gas commercial.
"If you can't sell it, it's not much good to you," Mr Morton said.
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Pilliga Scrub: is a huge forested area in mid-western
The Pilliga Scrub is at its best in spring and is home to a wide range of wildlife, including large koala colonies. However, there are 2700 km of crisscrossing roads in the scrub which are dry-weather only trails.
The Pilliga Nature Reserve is based on the Pilliga Sandstone and is underlain by silty sandstones, claystones and shales. The vegetation is dominated by narrow leafed iron bark–broad leafed iron bark–red iron bark woodland. Small areas of Blakely's red gum, yellow box, white box and angophora are also present. White cypress and black cypress are present in the sub-canopy along with the cycad.
A number of endangered fauna are present, including the endemic pilliga mouse, eastern pygmy possum, koala, glossy black-cockatoo, regent honeyeater and turquoise parrot. The Reserve also supports populations of the endangered brush-tailed rock wallaby, red-necked wallaby and swamp wallaby.
The Borah Creek Road was originally an old Cobb & Co coach track.
Large portions of the Pilliga Scrub burned in huge fires in late 2006
Mount Kaputar NP
Mt Kaputar National Park is a rugged island of wilderness, towering high above the surrounding Western Plains. It's the footprint left behind by a series of volcanic eruptions that moved across this area between 17 and 21 million years ago.
Millions of years of erosion have carved this volcanic pile into the Nandewar Range, with its dramatic landscape of lava terraces, volcanic plugs and ring dykes. At the peak of the range is Mt Kaputar, which reaches an altitude of 1200m. There are superb views from the summit, as well as from many other lookouts in the park.
The park protects a wide variety of plant communities, including semi-arid woodlands, wet eucalypt forests and subalpine heaths. It's home to a host of animal species, and provides a haven for many threatened species - including bats, birds, wallabies, quolls and a unique large pink slug, which often appears after rain.
I am looking forward to explore the park.
Cheers Jürgen
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