There's been much speculation in recent times about PEP-11, but here are the facts.
As we recently announced in an update to the ASX, the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) recommended that the application for an extension of PEP-11 be approved and extended for an additional 60 months.
NOPTA was also of the view that COVID disruptions were a force majeure event providing legitimate grounds for our application, and that our company has the necessary technical and financial resources to carry out the agreed work program.
That is a fact.
In response to this recent news there was the standard outcry from groups such as Surfers for Climate claiming widespread public opposition to the project.
This is opinion not supported by facts.
We understand there are groups that are passionately opposed to offshore gas activity, here or anywhere else in Australia.
But claims to speak on behalf of the community need to be properly tested rather than taken as established fact.
Personal opinions of a few do not represent the community view of the silent majority.
In March 2023, independent polling across the Hunter Valley undertaken by the Sydney-based research company Pureprofile showed that about 37 per cent of respondents supported gas exploration offshore in the Hunter region, 22 per cent were opposed and 41 per cent did not care either way.
This means three in four were either supportive or indifferent to PEP-11.
The polling also showed that cost of living and economic management remained the dominant issue for Hunter region voters at the last state election with only 0.5 per cent suggesting offshore gas exploration was their main concern.
This trend has been replicated in more recent national polls.
In making our applications all we have sought is fair treatment based on proven facts rather than unproven claims, as would be extended to any other applicant.
The 2020-21 NOPTA Annual Report notes that 54 applications for COVID-19 related suspensions and extensions were approved in that period.
The PEP11 Permit was the only application that was not approved.
Like others, we are frustrated by the political machinations that decision making on PEP-11 appears to have become subject to in recent years.
This does not serve the local community or the nation well.
It is an accepted fact that Australia's east coast has an urgent need for more gas, as confirmed by numerous reports, including from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), the ACCC and the Energy Users Association of Australia.
This gas is needed to power the 1.5 million homes and more than 50,000 businesses employing tens of thousands of workers in NSW and to provide back-up power generation as we transition to a net zero economy.
The Australian Energy and Climate Change Minister, Chris Bowen, also recently confirmed that the Australian gas market was facing a cumulative gas supply deficit of 3300 petajoules to 2035, which is equivalent to 10 years of total gas demand in NSW and Victoria.
PEP-11, with a prospective recoverable resource of about 6000 petajoules of low emissions environmentally safe gas adjacent to the industrial and power demand centres of NSW, would be well placed to make a significant contribution.
It is common sense, and necessary, to look for new supply options.
We can do this with PEP-11 through a single temporary exploration well, which would be drilled over six to eight weeks about 26 kilometres off the coast of Newcastle, then permanently plugged and abandoned.
No activity would be undertaken in the southern half of the permit area adjacent to Sydney's Northern Beaches.
No drilling activity will proceed without approval from the expert independent regulator, which must include consultation with the community and demonstrate environmental safety.
Claims and opinion have fuelled this saga for far too long.
It's time to fuel it with the facts.
