The next unconventional frontier?

The potential of Australia’s coal-bed methane reserves will soon be realised and it could be home to one of the most prospective shale plays outside North America

QUEENSLAND’S big liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects look set to provide assured demand for its vast CBM reserves. Eventually, shale gas plays could come to fruition too. But high costs and the inconclusive drilling results mean it’s too early to say that Australia will replicate the US’ remarkable unconventional production story. Coal-bed methane (CBM) will be, by far, Australia’s most important unconventional gas source in the short term. All three of Queensland’s LNG projects being built on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, will primarily be fed by CBM. As a result exploration and production drilling in Queensland’s coal-rich Bowen and Surat basins has been gathering momentum, large