Government Provides Funding To Seismic Testing While Investor Pulls Out

BY JARROD MELMETH

A listing on the Australian Stock Exchange has revealed the federal government provided almost $400,000 in funding to MEC Resources, the company conducting seismic blasting off Newcastle and the Central Coast.

In the listing, MEC Resources says "the company was granted a Research and Development incentive in the quarter ended 31 December 2018 after recent seismic activities within PEP 11. An amount of $384k was received under the scheme."

The issue of seismic testing off the coast of Newcastle, the Central Coast and Sydney has been a 12-month long saga since Asset Energy were given approval off the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority in January last year. The approval was given to conduct testing, which involved sending sonic blasts into the ocean floor to identify natural gas deposits. Since then, large-scale community protests have taken place.

Founder and co-director of Save Our Coast Natasha Deen said the grant is out of line with community expectations.

"We thought the project would become financially unstable and now of course with the news that the government has given the companies a grant to prop them up, well we just cannot believe that," Ms Deen said.

Meanwhile, potential investor Sacgasco has withdrawn its support for the PEP11 project "due to unresolved issues at the joint venture level and complex approval procedures."

Sacgasco’s Managing Director Gary Jeffery said PEP11 is a technically interesting project. However, "the uncertainty around approval risks and timing associated with regulatory and public processes make the project unattractive for Sacgasco shareholders."

The Perth-based company announced it had refused an option it received last year to acquire RL Energy, the company engaged in a farm-in agreement with Asset Energy, which owns the PEP11 title.

A Farm-on-agreement is a contract signed between two companies, the Farmor and the Farmee, where the Farmor is the owner of the acreage and the Farmee is willing to perform the drilling and exploration in the acreage of the Farmor.

NSW Greens Marine and Fisheries Spokesperson Justin Field said Asset Energy and their remaining partners should heed the warning and shelve plans for more seismic testing before they waste more money on an unviable project.

Satellite image of the seismic testing area. Image: The
Newcastle Herald.

Hunter fishermen fear seismic testing will hurt industry

BY JARROD MELMETH

Local fishermen fear a lot of dead fish will be the fallout of seismic testing being conducted off the coast of Newcastle.

In January, Asset Energy was given the tick of approval by the Commonwealth regulator to blast the ocean floor about 30km off the coast. 

Newcastle Commercial Fishermen's Co-operative general manager Robert Gauta said the impacts to marine life have been proven by past testing.

"When they did this last time in 2010, we found that the ground that they tested was devastated, so the fish either moved away or the ones that were there died and some of the smell that came up with the nets was from the decomposing flesh," Mr Gauta said.

Meanwhile, world-famous sand sculptor Dennis Massoud will join the third protest in a month on Tuesday where he will construct sand-sculptured dolphins on Nobbys Beach as a symbolic gesture of the potential effects of seismic testing to marine life.

Event organiser Liss Finney said the group is trying to build as much momentum as they can before the next stages of testing begin.

"For Asset, this is just phase one with 2D testing. The next step for them is 3D testing which, is actually much more destructive and affects a greater area and then from then on, that is when the licencing for the oil and petroleum exploration happen," Ms Finney said.
 

Demonstrators at last Saturday's protest. Photo: The Newcastle Herald.

NSW Greens Disapprove of Seismic Testing Approval.

BY DANIELLE RIES

Seismic testing off the coast of Newcastle has recently been approved, but not everyone is happy about the decision, as the NSW Greens have condemned the approval.

The testing will be conducted to see if gas or oil is within the vicinity 30 kilometres off the shores of Newcastle.

The idea to shoot pulses into the ocean has been criticised by the Greens as it could have huge impacts on the wildlife in the area as well as the environment surrounding it.

The environmental effects of this testing could be negative for ocean habitat including the migrating whales and local fisheries.

The company set to conduct these tests, Asset Energy, have assured the practices are safe.

NSW Greens marine and fisheries spokesperson Justin Field says the Greens are doing all they can to reverse this decision.

"We've been calling on the NSW Government to put an end to this nonsense. They've cancelled oil and gas licenses onshore in the northern rivers and other parts of the state.

"There's no reason they couldn't cancel this license, give the community some certainty, put this project to rest and give the community the confidence that their marine life and their local economy will be supported into the future".

He also goes on to say the idea of allowing this to go ahead is ridiculous.

"Previous seismic testing has had a significant impact on local fisheries, and there's new research that shows that seismic testing can impact on the direction and communication capacities of whales.

"This has huge environmental consequences, but more than that, the Newcastle community is never going to accept an oil or gas field off the coast of their beautiful city". 

Seismic Testing Map.
Credit- Newcastle Herald.

Fears over marine seismic test

BY RACHEL STORER

Bar Beach (Image: Newcastle Council)

An application to conduct marine seismic tests off the coast of Newcastle has sparked concern from local fishing associations and environmental advocates. 

Advent Energy's subsidiary Asset Energy has resubmitted a plan to send acoustic pulses into a 12.25 square-kilometre area of the ocean floor. 

The previous application was rejected by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) because it was "not reasonably satisfied that the environment plan meets the criteria."

Asset Energy said its the smallest application NOPSEMA have considered and poses an extremely low risk to commercial fishing and the environment.

NSW Greens marine and fisheries spokesperson Justin Field disagrees with Asset Energy's application and said that any exploration disrupts fish stock and marine life, including the migration patterns of whales. 

"At the end of the day, oil and gas drilling off the Sydney and Newcastle coastline is never going to be acceptable for the community and we should put an end to this project once and for all," Mr Field said.