On 2 August 2024, the Queensland Government introduced the Regional Planning Interests (Lake Eyre Basin) Amendment Regulation 2024 (New Regulations) and in doing so, limited future oil and gas activities in Queensland’s Lake Eyre Basin.
What are the changes?
In December 2023, the Miles government foreshadowed that legislative changes would be made to ‘assure the continued prosperity and future sustainability of the iconic Queensland Lake Eyre Basin region’. These changes were intended to reinstate and strengthen environmental protections proposed and scrapped over a decade earlier.
Under the New Regulations, new approvals associated with ‘petroleum resource activities’ – that is, activities which require an authority to prospect (ATP) or petroleum lease (PL) to be lawfully conducted – will no longer be granted in the Queensland portion of the Lake Eyre Basin. In support of the New Regulations, the Government has also extended the mapped Designated Precincts delineating the protected areas within the Lake Eyre Basin.
The New Regulations also include a carve out to the existing blanket ban on ‘open cut mining’ in the precinct to allow critical mineral developments, with a view to supporting the State’s efforts targeting the energy transition.
Transitional provisions
The transitional provisions associated with the New Regulations will permit existing approved developments to continue. Additionally, current ATP holders within the Lake Eyre Basin will be permitted to apply for a PL until 30 August 2024 for conventional gas developments only. Applications for new PLs in support of unconventional oil or gas developments will not be accepted.
Unconventional oil or gas is defined to include coal seam gas, deep coal gas, shale gas or tight gas and any oil or gas contained in, or extracted from, a natural underground reservoir that is part of a complex geological formation or structure that requires ‘innovative technological solutions for extraction’. What is considered to be an innovative technological solution for extraction is not expressly prescribed by the New Regulations, however a need for extensive hydraulic fracturing and extensive borrow pits (which are greater than 0.2ha and deeper than 2m) for development are two examples of unconventional development expressly contemplated.
Application deadline
For current ATP holders intending to develop in Queensland’s Lake Eyre Basin it is essential that any PL applications are lodged prior to 30 August 2024 and specifically target ‘conventional’ gas (as defined in the New Regulations).