Shell's announcement also comes after Santos chose Malaysian national oil company, Petronas, as its partner in the proposed $A7.7 billion Gladstone LNG project and Origin Energy rejecting BG Group's $13 billion takeover offer.

The recent moves are clear signs of interest in Australia's gas reserves, which the CSIRO has estimated at about 144 trillion cubic feet for conventional reserves and as much as 250Tcf for CSM reserves.

With more than 90,000 square kilometres of coal seam methane exploration tenements close to Queensland's three key markets - Townsville, Gladstone, and Brisbane and four producing projects currently account for more than 20% of Queensland's overall gas production, Arrow appears poised to reap the benefits of demand for CSM.

Arrow managing director Nick Davies will speak about the company's proposed LNG venture in Gladstone during SEAOOC, which will be held from July 16-18 at Darwin's Holiday Inn Esplanade.