Senex plans to drill a further 151 wells across four tenements in the central part of the Surat Basin over the next five to 10 years.
The plan would unlock 200 petajoules of new gas resources for domestic and international markets over a lifetime of 35 years.
However, this month the government ruled the project would need to undergo assessment by federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
EPBC applications have been known to take as long as 18 months.
Gas from the Atlas fields are compressed and piped to the domestic market via Jemena’s Darling Downs Pipeline which was constructed in 2019.
It comes as the east coast market grapples with potential supply shortfalls and follows a swathe of new government interventions which could see LNG exports cut by the government if it predicts a “shortfall quarter”.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said in April its east coast supply outlook has improved by 27 petajoules since its more worrisome January report thanks to an increase in production estimates and a reduction in uncontracted gas that could be sent overseas.
At the beginning of the year it warned of a possible 30PJ shortfall, prompting resources minister Madeleine King to step closer to halting exports until the situation improved.
In February, the government’s decision to impose a new compulsory code of conduct on gas producers and exporters, along with a wholesale gas price cap of $12 per gigajoule, saw Senex temporarily cancel an expression of interest for contract gas.
