Oil and gas company negotiates mitigating works with Dongara farmer Keith Tunney after locking gate

A frustrated farmer who locked his gate from an oil and gas company for 24 hours because of ongoing access to his property says he wants to negotiate a more favourable land use agreement. Dongara farmer Keith Tunney recently locked the gate to his paddock to address concerns with Japanese energy company Mitsui E&P Australia about ongoing access to his property. Mr Tunney has shared his land near Dongara with oil and gas companies for nearly three decades but temporarily padlocked his farm gates for 24 hours last month. A meeting was held shortly after unlocking the gate and Mitsui agreed to discuss mitigating dust and traffic while conducting decommissioning works. “They have been very compliant since I unlocked my gate. They’ve been maintaining the road and keeping the traffic to a minimum and they’ve been quite nice — well-behaved,” Mr Tunney said. Mr Tunney previously expressed his frustration at the oil company’s unwillingness to negotiate a more favourable lease agreement, saying he wanted to see a “level playing field” for landowners. He receives royalties starting from $800 and up to about $1300 per well, but said his neighbours received up to $1800 for their wells. “I inherited these wells when I bought the property and I was just grateful at the time to get something, but at the time it was $160 per acre. Today they’re probably valued at $1600,” Mr Tunney said. “They’ve gone up tenfold, but the lease agreements haven’t been going up anything.” A Mitsui E&P Australia spokesperson said the exploration company had land access agreements in place with all landowners who had assets on their land and worked closely with them to achieve positive outcomes. “MEPAU has responded to concerns raised by a partner landowner over recent activity levels associated with a planned decommissioning project,” he said. “A senior MEPAU representative met the landowner to discuss the impacts associated with these essential decommissioning works and conversations have been continuing. “MEPAU has traffic management plans in place as well as associated dust management and suppression measures which have been employed as part of this decommissioning project.” The spokesperson said MEPAU aimed to complete the decommissioning work in a safe and timely manner and would continue to work with the landowner once the activities were completed.