Resources Minister Don Harwin has quietly made a new regulation to extend the period of royalty-free assessment by 1,000 days from October this year, effectively giving Santos an extra two and a half years of royalty free operations.
Today in NSW Parliament, Labor and the Liberal/Nationals joined together to defeat a Greens' disallowance to stop the continued extraction of gas before the company receives proper approval for the Narrabri gas field and stop millions in lost royalty payments.
Greens MP and Resources spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham said, "The NSW Government has yet again shown special treatment for the mining industry with a 'royalty holiday' worth millions of dollars for gas giant Santos.
"Santos and the NSW Government should drop the fiction that these 26-31 pilot wells are anything less than production under stealth before a decision has been made on the massive 850-well Narrabri Gas Field proposed for near Narrabri.
"These wells have been operating for more than eight years using a loophole to produce and profit from significant amounts of gas extraction without the usual approval process and without paying royalties.
"This special arrangement for 'covert' gas production was abhorrent enough but now the NSW Government wants to disregard the more than 4,250,000GJ of gas already produced and give the company another 1000 days of 'free' production.
"An average person or family can't just ask the NSW Government for a million dollar handout, why can a big gas company?
"The Government and Labor both mentioned concerns about the company flaring gas if it was not utilised for power but this is disingenuous. If the 'assessment' period for these wells has expired then the company should cap the wells, shut up shop and wait to see if its controversial project is approved.
"The Greens oppose coal seam gas as unnecessary, unwanted and unsafe. We do not need a new fossil fuel in an age of climate change and competitive renewable energy technologies," he said.
23 October 2018
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