Land Access

More than 4,700 Conduct and Compensation Agreements between landholders and gas companies have been entered into as at March 2019

About land access

Land access refers to onshore gas companies entering a landholder’s property to conduct a range of activities relating to the exploration, development and extraction of gas from underground.

Under Queensland laws, all resource companies undertaking work on private land, including the onshore gas industry, have to comply with the Land Access Code.

The Queensland Government has developed A guide to land access in Queensland to assist landholders and resource companies in understanding Queensland’s land access laws.

For a comprehensive guide on what to expect through each stage of gas development on private land, view The Gas Guide or order a ring binder version of your own.

Background

In Queensland, total gas exploration and production tenures cover about 15% of Queensland's land mass. This does not reflect the actual surface footprint of petroleum and gas infrastructure.

Agriculture is undertaken on 88% of Queensland's land area.

All onshore gas companies undertaking exploration and development activities must comply with Queensland's land access laws.

These activities are usually classified in three phases:

1
Preliminary activities, such as walking the area, taking soil samples or survey pegging (minimal impact on landholders)
2
Advanced activities, such as infrastructure construction (longer term and/or extensive impacts on landholders)
3
Decommissioning activities, such as rehabilitation of wells or pipelines

An onshore gas operator accessing private land to undertake 'advanced activities', must first enter into one of the following land access agreements with the landholder:

  1. Conduct and compensation agreement (CCA) - relates to the proposed advanced activities, conduct for the proposed activities to be undertaken and, where there is impact on the landholder, compensation arrangements for those activities
  2. Deferral agreement - allows for a CCA to be entered into at a later date and after the resource company has accessed the land to undertake advanced activities
  3. Opt-out agreement - provides a legally binding arrangement between a landholder and a resource company where the landholder is agreeing to opt-out of negotiating a CCA or a deferral agreement

As at 31 March 2019, a total of 4,746 CCAs had been negotiated between landholders and gas companies. Compensation already paid under these CCAs including upfront and annual payments is estimated to be more than $500 million.

Many landholders have also negotiated in-kind outcomes such as new fencing, roads, grids, sale of gravel and water, and have also gained access to treated CSG water for agriculture in some areas.