Eastern Gas Managing Director David Spring featured in The Courier-Mail on Saturday 29 August 2026, in a column by Des Houghton examining the scale of Queensland's untapped gas reserves.

The article notes Geoscience Australia's revised valuation of the state's gas assets at $489.7 billion - with the Surat Basin alone accounting for $293.8 billion - and projected royalties of $45.6 billion to the Queensland government over the next two decades.

Mr Spring pointed to AEMO forecasts that gas production from legacy fields in southern states will decline 46 per cent over the next five years, placing greater pressure on Queensland supply.

The piece also outlines Eastern Gas's drilling approach at its Surat Basin acreage, 9km west of Miles, where the Company is targeting a gas-bearing coal seam at approximately 425m. Rather than drilling vertically through the seam, the well is designed to turn and travel along it.

"Historically, most coal seam gas wells in Queensland's Surat and Bowen basins have been drilled straight down through the coal," Mr Spring said. "Increasingly, gas companies are using more sophisticated drilling techniques that allow the well to turn underground and travel along the coal seam… This gives the well access to much more gas-bearing coal and can help producers reach gas that was previously too difficult or expensive to extract."

Read the full Courier Mail article