Elisabeth Champion
BEACH Energy is packing up its office and leaving Penola after unsuccessful attempts to find commercially viable quantities of gas with the company declaring it has no current plans for further exploration in the region.
The news has been greeted with jubilation from local opponents of fossil fuels after the company’s presence in the region had caused controversy with fears the company may change from conventional drilling to fracking to source gas in the future.
The company will close the doors at its Church St office in Penola this month, and while it will continue operations at Katnook Gas Plant, there are no plans in sight for any exploration work.
Beach Energy Community Manager Jon Conti said the company will begin assessing opportunities for future additional gas production at the Katnook Gas Plant using data obtained from a recently completed Dombey 3D Geological Survey, but the Penola office will close in July as there are “no current activities planned in the region”.
“We are still running Katnook Gas processing facility, and that will continue its operations, but we have no exploration planned,” he said.
“Our plan is to wait for the Dombey 3D seismic survey and work out what resources, if any, that we have there to connect in the future to Katnook.
“Geological surveys provide us with a map of what is beneath the ground, allowing us to target future gas reservoirs with more precision.”
The results of the survey are not expected until late 2023.
Despite having no exploration planned, they will maintain their current permits and obligations in the area.
Mr Conti said they will continue to maintain a local presence in the region with local resident, Lucille Bailey, available to support the community and information sharing in the region.
“We are closing the Penola office, but we will still be in the region,” Mr Conti said.
“The interpretation of the Dombey survey may yield opportunities for future energy production. If this happens, the Penola office shop front may be re-opened.”
Mr Conti said furniture from the office had been distributed to local community groups.
The news is music to the ears of fierce opponents to the energy company, which has faced opposition from environmental protection groups including the Limestone Coast Protection Alliance which formed to oppose the energy company’s presence in the region.
Community pressure on the former State Liberal Government prompted it to put in place a 10 year moratorium on fracking in 2018.
In the lead-up to the 2022 State election, the then Opposition Leader and now Premier Peter Malinauskas reaffirmed Labor’s commitment to the moratorium.
Chair of the Limestone Coast Protection Alliance Angus Ralton, of Penola, said Beach Energy leaving was good news for the whole community.
“Their [Beach Energy’s] time here created division in the community, created unrest in the community, created uncertainty for farmers and created uncertainty for the communities thinking about their water supplies,” he said.
“It was an overall bad move from a company that doesn’t know better.”
The work will not stop for the Alliance however, with Mr Ralton and his team waiting in the wings for Beach Energy’s return.
“We will be waiting just in case – the last time they said they were gone, they came back and did the exploration near Furner – we will be waiting,” he said.
“We will always be here for the community, and even though we have lives to lead and will get on with that, we are only a phone call away.”
