What Is a Coal Seam Gas Reservation and Why Does It Appear on Your Title?
If you are buying rural, peri-urban, or regional property in Queensland, you may encounter a term that surprises first-time buyers: a coal seam gas (CSG) reservation on the title. Queensland sits above one of the world's largest coal seam gas basins — stretching from Dalby and Chinchilla through to Roma and across much of the Darling Downs, Surat Basin, and Bowen Basin. Understanding how CSG rights, reservations, and associated easements can appear on a property title is essential before you sign a contract.
Order the right document
Which TitleFinder product matches this check?
Use the article as a reference, then order the actual record below when you need evidence for a purchase, conveyancing file, council check or due-diligence review.
Current Title / State Lease
Start here to confirm the current registered owner, title reference and registered interests.
$74.50 · Order this document
Image of Survey Plan (SP/RP)
Add the plan if boundaries, lot layout, easements or strata/common property matter.
$85.90 · Order this document
Not sure which document fits? Start with the current title search, then add the plan or instrument if the title points to one.
Unlike mineral rights in some overseas jurisdictions, Queensland law vests all petroleum and gas resources in the Crown — not the landowner. This means that even if you own the freehold title to a rural block, you do not own the gas beneath it. The State Government can grant resource companies the right to explore and extract, and those rights can be registered against your title in a way that affects your use and enjoyment of the land.
How CSG Reservations and Easements Show Up on Queensland Titles
A CSG-related interest can appear on your certificate of title in several ways:
- Petroleum Leases: A petroleum lease granted under the Petroleum and Gas (Production and Safety) Act 2004 (Qld) may be noted as a dealing registered against the lot. This grants the resource company the right to produce gas from beneath the land.
- Pipeline Easements: Registered pipeline easements allow CSG companies to construct, operate, and maintain underground pipelines across your property. These are permanent encumbrances on the title that transfer to new owners.
- Conduct and Compensation Agreements (CCAs): While not always registered on title, a CCA is a binding agreement between the resource company and landowner governing access, compensation, and land restoration. Savvy buyers request copies of any existing CCAs as part of due diligence.
- Authorised Activities Notices: Some historical titles in CSG-active areas carry notations about authorised resource activities. These can limit certain development or land-use activities.
The only reliable way to identify whether any of these interests are registered against a specific lot is to obtain a current title search showing all registered dealings and encumbrances.
What Areas of Queensland Are Most Affected?
CSG activity is concentrated in the following regions, where buyers should exercise extra diligence:
- Darling Downs: Including Toowoomba surrounds, Dalby, Chinchilla, Miles, and Condamine — the heart of QLD CSG production
- Surat Basin: Roma, Injune, Mitchell, and surrounding areas
- Bowen Basin: Moranbah, Emerald, Blackwater — primarily coal but also gas interests
- Western Downs: Wandoan, Taroom, and surrounding shires
- Lockyer Valley and Scenic Rim: Peri-urban acreage that borders active resource tenement areas
Even if your block is in a suburb or smaller town within these regions, resource company pipeline easements can extend significant distances from production fields. A current title search will show any registered pipeline or infrastructure easements even on seemingly residential-adjacent blocks.
Does a CSG Easement Affect Property Value?
The short answer is: it depends. A registered pipeline easement restricts what you can build or plant within the easement corridor. For a rural property, this might mean a strip of 20–30 metres where you cannot erect permanent structures, plant certain trees, or dig without notification. For a lifestyle block or farming operation, this can materially affect plans.
The presence of active CSG infrastructure near a boundary — even if not registered on title — can also affect planning approvals, insurance premiums, and future development potential. Understanding the full picture requires both a current title search and a review of relevant resource tenement registers through the Queensland Government's GeoResGlobe mapping platform.
Landowner Rights Under Queensland Law
Queensland landowners have specific rights when resource companies seek access. The Land Access Code requires resource companies to:
- Give advance notice before entering your land
- Negotiate a Conduct and Compensation Agreement (CCA) before advanced activities begin
- Compensate landowners for all reasonably foreseeable loss, including impacts on agricultural productivity, stock, and the amenity of the land
- Restore disturbed areas to an agreed standard after activities conclude
However, these rights protect the landowner at the time of negotiation. When you buy a property that already has a registered petroleum lease, pipeline easement, or an existing CCA, you inherit those conditions. The resource company's rights do not reset just because there is a new owner. This is exactly why a pre-purchase title search — reviewed alongside any existing CCAs — is so important.
Current Title Search vs Historical Title Search for CSG Due Diligence
For CSG-related due diligence, a Current Title Search ($74.50) is your starting point. It shows all currently registered interests, dealings, and encumbrances — including any petroleum leases or pipeline easements — as they stand today.
A Historical Title Search ($86.50) traces every dealing and owner going back through the title's history. For CSG-prone areas, a historical search can reveal whether a pipeline easement was registered, released, or modified in previous decades — useful when you want to understand the full story behind a notation on the current title.
If a dealing instrument — such as a registered pipeline easement — appears on the title, you should also obtain an Image of the Dealing Instrument ($91.80) to read the precise terms, the exact location of the easement corridor, and any conditions imposed on the landowner.
Survey Plans and CSG Infrastructure
Registered pipeline easements are often described by reference to a survey plan. Obtaining an Image of the Survey Plan ($85.90) lets you see the precise spatial extent of the easement corridor overlaid on your lot boundaries. For properties where a pipeline runs diagonally across the block, the survey plan tells you exactly where you can and cannot build or develop.
Practical Due Diligence Checklist for CSG-Active Areas
- ✅ Order a Current Title Search — identify all registered dealings
- ✅ Check for registered petroleum leases, pipeline easements, and infrastructure reservations
- ✅ Search GeoResGlobe for any overlapping resource tenements on or adjacent to the property
- ✅ Request copies of any existing Conduct and Compensation Agreements from the vendor
- ✅ Order dealing instrument images for any CSG-related encumbrances
- ✅ Obtain the survey plan for any registered easement corridors
- ✅ Consider a Historical Title Search if any past dealings appear unclear
How TitleFinder Can Help
TitleFinder provides fast, official Queensland title searches directly from the Titles Registry. Whether you need a current title search to check for registered CSG interests, an image of a dealing instrument to understand an easement's exact terms, or a survey plan showing the physical extent of an encumbrance on your block, we deliver official documents quickly — so your due diligence stays on track.
For rural and regional Queensland purchases in CSG-active areas, having the right documents in hand before you commit to a contract could save you from an expensive surprise after settlement.