Blue lodged nine applications for a Potential Commercial Area with the Government in 2018 as a result of gas discoveries which found a contingent resource of 838 petajoules.

“Blue believes it demonstrated the regional extent of the coal seam gas reservoir throughout the PCA application areas,” the company said.

“Blue’s economic assessment of the PCA areas suggested positive economic viability within the term of the PCAs based on current gas prices, aggregated infrastructure construction to connect to the east coast market and using common user principles for has pipeline access.”

“The department has informed Blue that it has made the decision to decline all of the applications in total on the basis that it is not satisfied that petroleum production in the Galilee Basin area covered by Blue’s proposed PCA applications would be likely to become commercially viable with the next 15 years.”

Blue has 20 business days to appeal and was reviewing the merits of this option

A PCA allows a company to evaluate the potential production and market opportunities for the resource or helps them retain an area beyond its term to provide extra time to commercialise the resource.

Environmental group Lock the Gate said it now wanted to see the Government reject Blue’s tenements in the Bowen Basin.

“It’s the second time the Government has rejected applications by Blue Energy to develop unconventional gasfields in Queensland with the company’s Wide Bay-Burnett fracking attempts thwarted due to strong community resistance in 2019,” the group’s national co-ordinator Ellen Roberts said.

“Gas is driving the climate crisis, resulting in ever more terrifying extreme weather disasters.

“For these reasons we hope to see the Queensland Government making many more similar decisions to reject gasfield proposals in the future.”