The Queensland Government has launched a 'Frontier Gas Exploration Grants Program' which is a two-year, $21.045 million initiative to provide funding support for on-ground activities with a short-term objective to increase identified gas resources and reserves in the Bowen and Galilee Basins (see map below). The longer-term objective is to help bolster future gas supply to the East Coast Australia market.
The Program will support exploration and appraisal activities beyond the current footprint of established gas reserves and production areas, to expand the frontier of gas resource delineation in either geographic, geologic or new technology terms. The Program will commence with release of this guideline and conclude end June 2025, with no possibility for extension.
The Program seeks to support activities in both the Galilee and Bowen Basins but does not assign a mandatory proportional allocation to either basin.
The Program is operated by the Department of Resources, with practical management by the Geological Survey of Queensland.
Tenure must be held in the eligible location (purple) of the Bowen and Galilee Basins. The section in yellow (approximate boundary only) where the Surat Basin stratigraphically overlies the Bowen Basin is excluded from the Program.
Source: Queensland Government
