Government urged to grant Kipper licence

The Commonwealth Government has been urged to license the development of an additional gas field.

Addressing the 1998 National Gas Industry Reform conference in Sydney, Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Allan Asher, urged the issue of the licence in the Kipper field of the Gippsland Basin in Victoria.

"On the issue of exploration and production licence allocation, it is interesting to note the desire of some of the venturers in the Kipper field of the Gippsland Basin in Victoria to produce its 450PJ of gas," Mr Asher said.

"I welcome new source of gas into the Victorian, and soon to be South East Australian, gas market, currently dominated by the Esso/BHP joint venture.

"I understand that the Kipper joint venturers must seek either a production or retention licence soon or relinquish rights over the field.

"While there appears to be some debate within the joint venture as to whether the gas is currently economic to produce, it seems to me that if half of the joint venture believes it is and wish to produce, the Government should be granting a production licence or require a formal appraisal mechanism to determine its commercial viability and encourage a new competitive source of gas," he said.