Pangaea Resources held a meeting at Shockless Electrical in Katherine today to promote the benefits of the onshore gas industry. 

Pangaea Resources executive director Tim Radburn said due to how “sensitive the topic has become in the past few years” they wanted to “respect people’s right to privacy”. 

Mr Radburn said the company would be pushing a campaign in the media during the next six weeks to highlight the economic benefits of onshore gas. 

Pangaea Resources invested more than $100 million into the industry before the NT Government introduced a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing of onshore unconventional reservoirs in 2016. 

Mr Radburn said he did not think the community or government “understand how real the benefits are and how soon they can come online”. 

“We are insisting on a Territory first approach to onshore gas,” Mr Radburn said. 

He said jobs are already flowing from the $800 million Jemena Northern Gas Pipeline from the NT into Queensland. 

“The Jemena pipeline is already underway,” Mr Radburn said. 

“They have employed 350 people in the NT and 280 in Queensland.”

First gas on the Northern Gas Pipeline is expected to flow in late 2018. 

Related reading:

Northern Gas Pipeline work starts

Katherine wants to keep fracking out

Sneak peek of NT's only 'fracked' gas well

Pangaea’s final submission to the Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing in the Northern Territory states 

“Pangaea takes very seriously the views and opinions of all Territorians and asserts again that with appropriate regulation, the industry can grow to ensure best practice is nested with proper protection of the environment, Territorians and industry employees.”