Access agreement – A negotiated agreement between a resource company and private landholder relating to the rights over designated ‘access land’.

Aquifer – An underground geological layer with high permeability which means it can store and allow water movement.

Associated water – Sometimes referred to as ‘CSG produced water’. Groundwater that is produced because of gas production. This water can be treated and used beneficially for a range of purposes.

ATP – Authority to prospect also commonly known as an exploration permit or tenure. To explore for petroleum, oil, coal seam gas and natural gas in Queensland, you must hold a current authority to prospect.

Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) – A not-for-profit organisation, registered as a public company limited by guarantee; whose operating costs are recovered through fees paid by market participants. Their role is to manage the electricity and gas systems and markets across Australia, helping to ensure Australians have access to affordable, secure, and reliable energy.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) – An independent Commonwealth statutory authority whose role is to enforce the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and a range of additional legislation, promoting competition, fair trading and regulating national infrastructure for the benefit of all Australians.

Coal seam gas (CSG) – Natural gas contained in coal seams.

Conduct and Compensation Agreement (CCA) – A legal agreement between a landholder and a resource company relating to proposed activities or conduct and, where there is impact on the landholder, compensation arrangements for those activities.

Construction phase – Can include the building and/or upgrading of vehicle access tracks, well pad development, drilling, well completion and the installation of above ground infrastructure and pipelines. As a general rule, it can take 5–7 months from the start of a well pad to operational handover.

Conventional gas – also see natural gas. Conventional gas reservoirs largely consist of porous sandstone formations capped by impermeable rock, with the gas stored at high pressure.

CSIRO – The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is Australia’s national science research agency.

DAF – The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries works to achieve a productive and profitable agriculture, fisheries, and forestry sector in Queensland by promoting sustainability and innovation.

DES – The Department of Environment and Science are responsible for protecting and managing parks, forests, and the Great Barrier Reef. They lead the development of science strategy for government whilst fostering a community of the arts and facilitating the growth of the arts and cultural sector in Queensland. They are also responsible for administering Chapter 3 of the Water Act 2000.

DoR – The Department of Resources are responsible for regulating the exploration and mining of mineral and land resources in Queensland.

EA – In Queensland, you need to apply for an Environmental Authority to undertake an environmentally relevant activity (ERA).

Fracking or fraccing – See Hydraulic Fracturing.

GFCQ/The Commission – Established as an independent statutory body in 2013, the GasFields Commission Queensland’s purpose is to manage and improve the sustainable coexistence of landholders, regional communities, and the onshore gas industry in Queensland.

GISERA – CSIRO’s Gas Industry Social & Environmental Research Alliance is a collaboration between CSIRO, Commonwealth and State Governments and industry established to undertake publicly reported independent research.

GWh – A gigawatt hour is a unit of energy representing one billion (1,000,000,000) watt hours and is equivalent to one million
kilowatt hours.

Hydraulic Fracturing (Fraccing) – A safe and established method used by the petroleum and gas industry since the late 1940s to increase the rate and total amount of petroleum and gas extracted from reservoirs. Water, sand (99%) and household chemicals (1%) are pressure pumped into steel encased wells to stimulate the opening of cracks in gas-bearing formations.

Hydrocarbons – Are organic compounds comprising hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are the principal constituents of oil and gas.

IAA – An immediately affected area (a subset of an LAA) is predicted to exceed the bore trigger thresholds within the next three years.

Infilling – The addition of wells in a field that decreases average well spacing. This practice both accelerates expected recovery and increases estimated ultimate recovery in heterogeneous reservoirs by improving the continuity between injectors and producers. As well spacing is decreased, the shifting well patterns alter the formation-fluid flow paths and increase sweep to areas where greater hydrocarbon saturations exist.

LAA – A UWIR identifies bores in a long-term affected area that are predicted at any time in the future to exceed the bore trigger threshold.

Landholder – Owner/occupier/lessee (e.g. rental tenant) of private land.

LGA – Local government area is used by The Australian Bureau of Statistics to collectively refer to all local government administrative zones regardless of the varying designations. There are 77 LGAs in Queensland which are classified as Cities, Regions or Shires.

LNG – Liquefied natural gas. Natural gas that is cooled to -161 degrees Celsius to reduce its volume to 1/600th for the purpose of transport. To unload LNG from a vessel no processing is required as conversion back to gaseous form occurs as the temperature increases.

MGA – A Make Good Agreement is a legally binding agreement entered into by a resource tenure holder and a bore owner about a water bore. An MGA is required for all bores that have had a bore assessment undertaken (not just those with an impaired capacity).

Natural gas – Primarily methane extracted from gas-bearing underground reservoirs.

Net inter-state exports – Gross exports minus the gross imports of intrastate transactions equals the net intrastate imports/exports.

OGIA – The Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment is an independent entity established under the Water Act 2000 responsible for assessing and managing the impacts of groundwater extraction from resource operations in CMAs (OGIA also provides advice on related matters outside CMAs).

Petajoule – One petajoule (PJ) is enough energy to power 42,000 average Australian households for one year.

Petroleum – Liquid, gaseous and solid hydrocarbons including oil, gas, condensate, ethane, propane, butane, and pentane.

Petroleum well – For the purposes of this report, ‘petroleum wells’ refers to conventional, tight gas and shale wells.

PL – A petroleum lease gives its holder the right to explore, test for production and produce petroleum within the defined area of the lease.

PPL – To construct a petroleum pipeline outside the area of your petroleum lease, you need a petroleum pipeline licence.

Private land – Freehold land or an interest in land less than fee simple held from the State under another Act. However, land is not private land to the extent of an interest in a resource authority under a resource Act.

QEP – The Queensland Exploration Program provides a yearly schedule for exploration opportunities for petroleum and gas and coal. The program outlines the tender process and provides details on the location of each exploration tender area and the timing of each competitive tender process.

Resource Act – The Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004, Petroleum Act 1923, Mineral and Energy Resources (Common Provisions) Act 2014.

Resource authority – An authorisation (permit/licence) from the Queensland Government for a resource company to carry out specified activities over an area of land, including privately owned land.

Resource company – A resource authority holder or their agents or representatives.

Shale gas – Natural gas that is contained within shale formations under high pressure. Having extremely low porosity makes it difficult for gas to flow to wells. Hydraulic fracturing is commonly used in shale gas wells to increase the flow of gas from the reservoir.

Surat Cumulative Management Area (Surat CMA) – Under the Water Act 2000, a cumulative management area (CMA) can be declared if an area contains two or more resource tenures, including tenures on which coal seam gas (CSG) and mining activities operate, and where there may be cumulative impacts on groundwater resulting from water extraction by the tenure holders. The Surat CMA was declared in 2011 after consideration of the location of petroleum and gas operations, the geology of the area, the potential for interconnectivity between aquifers in the area and the cumulative impacts of water extraction by petroleum tenure holders.

Tight gas – A natural gas field that can be made economic with horizontal wells and/or fracture stimulation (see hydraulic fracturing).

Unconventional gas – Also see CSG, shale and tight gas. Unconventional gas is found in complex geological systems, with some trapped in reservoirs with poor permeability or porosity. The gas is often difficult to produce and techniques for production vary and may require innovative technological solutions for extraction.

UWIR – An underground water impact report for the Surat Cumulative Management Area assesses the groundwater impacts from resource operations in the Surat and southern Bowen basins. It also establishes strategies to manage the predicted impacts and responsibilities for implementing various aspects of the strategies.

Well Footprint – A standard single well site for conventional oil or gas will typically affect a surface area measuring 100m x 100m.

GasFields Commission Queensland would like to thank the following contributors to Shared Landscapes – Industry Trends.