Santos said the GFD would expand the GLNG gas field development from 6,887 square kilometres to 10,676sq.km.

It will develop an additional 6100 production wells over 30 years – up from the currently permitted 2650 production wells which would take the total to 8750 of these CSG wells.

The GFD will also usher in development of associated infrastructure such as gas compression and treatment facilities, gas and water gathering lines and management facilities and power generation plants.

On potential timeframes for the “maximum development scenario”, Santos said an upgrade of the gas compression facilities at the Scotia gas field would start in 2016, “followed by GFD project wells in the Roma, Arcadia and Fairview gas fields in mid-2019”.

Santos prefaced the draft EIS by saying that market conditions, exploration results and technology advancements meant that a more likely level of development would be about “half” of the activities proposed in the document over the next 30 years.

“It is important to read this EIS with the understanding that only some of the potential impacts identified in this EIS are likely to occur,” Santos said in the introduction.

The project is expected to create a peak construction workforce of 1700 jobs and 200 operational jobs once it starts up.

Public submissions close on December 22.