Hancock Prospecting has referred an $850 million gas plant to regulators, outlining a Perth Basin gas vision beyond the assets it acquired from Mineral Resources in 2024.
Hancock Prospecting has referred an $850 million gas plant to regulators, outlining a Perth Basin gas vision beyond the assets it acquired from Mineral Resources in 2024.
Hancock’s paperwork for the Belisama facility near Dongara was published by the Environmental Protection Authority this morning, showing a plan to treat gas from the Lockyer field and push it through the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline.
The Gina Rinehart-led private company acquired Lockyer in its $1.1 billion deal for MinRes’ Perth Basin gas assets in October 2024.
At the time, it pledged to accelerate the development of the Lockyer field.
Today’s documents shed more light on that plan - and more.
Hancock hopes to build Belisama around 25km south west of Mingenew as a central processing facility in the area, with a maximum life of 30 years and a construction phase of three years.
The plant will be designed to produce as much as 210 terajoules of gas per day and operated by 40 staff.
The gas would be used by the domestic market, sold through Australian Gas Infrastructure Group’s transfer station.
While the initial gas will be sourced from Lockyer, supporting documents highlight the potential for gas from the West Erregulla field – owned by Hancock in a joint venture with Strike Energy – to be integrated through the processing plant at some point.
Hancock and Strike received approval for a smaller standalone gas plant at West Erregulla in October 2024, but progress on that development stalled after Hancock turned its attention to Lockyer.
Hancock’s documents also flagged the possibility of the undiscovered fields being tapped through Belisama.
The submission signed by Hancock Energy chief executive Stuart Johnston revealed EPA chair Darren Walsh personally visited the Belisama site in February.
A letter of support from the Yamatji Southern Regional Corporation was also published.
Belisama will now be subject to a seven-day public comment period, before a decision is made as to whether it requires a full EPA assessment.
Hancock previously received WA Planning Commission approval for a Lockyer plant, with an estimated price tag of $850 million.
In January, it submitted a request to relocate the processing facilities from their original site to the current, central processing facility now before the EPA.
Today’s submission is the latest in Hancock’s ongoing pursuit of gas production from the Perth Basin, where it first took an interest in a takeover battle in 2022.
That battle was for Warrego Energy, then the half-owner of West Erregulla, and pitted Mrs Rinehart’s company against Kerry Stokes-back Beach Energy, MinRes and Strike.
Hancock won the bidding war, securing its position in the region.
MinRes, meanwhile, snapped up Lockyer in its acquisition of Norwest Energy in early 2023.
MinRes ultimately sold that asset to Hancock, but the pair remain in a 50:50 gas exploration joint venture over its other tenure in the region.
