The following statement has been released by AGL following today's heated council meeting in which Gloucester Shire councillors passed a motion to request the buy-back of AGL's exploration licence.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"AGL has relationships with our landholders which are built on mutual trust and respect. We have committed to Land Access Principles under which we will never enter people's land to carry out CSG drilling unless they want us there.
Every access agreement we have for the Gloucester Gas Project has been voluntary and when people don't want us on their land, we respect that. Currently we have more than 50 land access agreements for the Gloucester and Camden projects.
We also have been working actively with the Gloucester community for many years to bring benefits from having us operating locally.
More than 200 local business supplied services to AGL in Gloucester in financial year 2015. We have provided tens of thousands of dollars in grants that benefit local community organisations. We shortly will be announcing the recipients of the most recent round of grants.
AGL has commissioned external consultants to engage with the community independently to understand and find solutions to social impacts that are raised. Currently, an AGL-funded specialist is coordinating efforts to identify funding opportunities for regional infrastructure and this project has the involvement and support of the three regional councils.
PEL buybacks are a voluntary process initiated by the licence holder, not the government and not at the behest of third parties. AGL will continue to work cooperatively with its landholders in the Gloucester region and conduct the ongoing gas flow testing of the Waukivory pilot wells ahead of a board decision on the future of the project in 2016."
END OF AGL STATEMENT
-----------------
The NSW Government recently offered to buy-back three controversial exploration licenses owned by Metgasco in northern NSW for $25 million. The offer has been backed by Metgasco’s board but must be passed at a shareholders meeting scheduled for December 16 before it can be accepted. Metgasco’s Chairman Len Gill said that it was a difficult decision for the board as the company had invested heavily in the Clarence Moreton Basin for over 10 years, but taking into account delays, increasing costs and legal action, it needed to move forward and consider different alternatives.
