MELBOURNE, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- An oil and gas exploration company is suing the Victorian government for two billion US dollars over a fracking ban.
Lakes Oil, which is 20 per cent owned by Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart, said it was seeking to recover losses from a Victorian ban on fracking, a process of injecting liquid at high pressure into rocks to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas.
The ban said the process could contaminate ground water supplies,winning farmers' support.
"The writ filed today asserts that the actions of the Victorian Minister for Resources is depriving the company of its opportunity to use its exploration permits for the purpose for which they were intended," the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
It said it was seeking 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in lost earnings and 68 million U.S. dollars which they had already spent.
Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria, introduced legislation in October that permanently banned fracking in Victoria, making it the first state in Australia to outlaw the practice.
"The unjust and unlawful actions of the Victorian Government and its proposed bill to ban onshore exploration have caused significant losses to the company and its 11,000 long-standing shareholders," Lakes Oil said.
A spokesperson for Wade Noonan, Victoria's Minister for Resources, said as the matter was before the courts they could not make a comment but did add that the government was "proud to have taken this stance for the farmers and environment."
