The agreement was made after the New South Wales government committed to use its “best endeavours” to make a decision on whether to maintain the suspension of Metgasco’s Rosella drilling approval by June 25 and to make available the documentation it used to make the suspension decision.

Metgasco was told of the suspension of its Rosella drilling approval on May 14 by the Office of Coal Seam Gas without notice.

NSW Resources Minister Anthony Roberts had asked the OCSG to suspend the licence because he felt Metgasco did not enter into proper community consultation regarding the well.

In Metgasco’s opinion, the suspension was also without valid justification.

Along the way, Metgasco was also referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption after NSW Resources Minister Anthony Roberts received “information concerning shareholdings and interests in Metgasco Limited”

The company was subsequently cleared by ICAC in June.

On June 3, Metgasco filed for a judicial review of the suspension decision and the first hearing was to have been on June 13.

Metgasco has asked the NSW Supreme Court to set aside the OCSG’s decision to suspend drilling of the Rosella well.

Its grounds are that the decision was unlawful because it was not authorised by legislation and made without offering Metgasco procedural fairness.

Furthermore, Metgasco argues that it did comply with its community consultation obligation so the minister did not have grounds for the suspension.

The company reserves its rights to pursue other options, including a claim for damages to compensate it for losses resulting from the peremptory suspension of its drilling approval.

So far, the company has burnt through $21 million – $3 million in rig demobilisation costs and about $18 million in share price fallout.

Whether Metgasco has grounds for a compensation claim may not be clear until after the judicial review proceedings are complete.