Regulatory nirvana for low-permeability gas reservoir development
‘Trusted land access is both the first factor and the final outcome of a virtuous exploration and production life-cycle’ (Goldstein et al, 2007). Governments are under pressure to deploy trusted regulatory frameworks that enable profitable and environmentally sustainable development of unconventional gas resources for matters including, but not limited to, fracture stimulation operations. Nirvana regulation will entail: attractive licence tenure; regulatory certainty and efficiency without taint of capture; regulators and licensees with trustworthy capabilities (competence and capacity); effective (informative) stakeholder consultation well-ahead of land access; public access to details of risks and reliable research to reduce key uncertainties, and to back-up risk management strategies so the basis for regulation is contestable anytime, everywhere; timely notice of entry with sufficient operational details to effectively inform stakeholders; potentially affected people and organisations who can object to land access without support for vexatious objections; fair and expeditious dispute resolution processes; fair compensation to affected land-users for costs, losses, and deprivation due to operations; risks that are reduced to low or as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) while also meeting community expectations for net outcomes; licensees who monitor and report on the efficacy of their risk management processes, while the regulator probes the same; regulators who can prevent and stop operations, require restitution, levy fines and cancel licences; and, industry compliance records, which are made public so the efficacy of regulation is transparent. This paper will describe how these principles are deployed in SA where: 24 unconventional gas play-trends are being explored, each with giant gas potential; hundreds of wells have been safely hydraulically fracture stimulated to enhance flow rates from both petroleum and geothermal reservoirs, and in doing so, enable economic development; and, since implementing SA’s Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000, more than 11,000 notices of entry for petroleum operations have led to just one court action, and that was to establish legal precedent that geophysical surveys can extend outside a licence to attain full-fold control in a licence. The introduction of new energy development technologies is inevitable, so regulatory nirvana will remain an aspiration. Regulation for compatible, multiple-use of land in Australia is undertaken with community ownership of subsurface resources in mind. SA aspires to achieve regulatory nirvana for the upstream petroleum sector. Expeditious, welcomed access to land for compatible, multiple uses is the metric for performance, and leading practice is based on the principle that trust is the most valuable lead factor and lag outcome in sustaining welcomed land access for resource exploration, development and production.